England cricketer Sam Billings on Tuesday revealed his fight with skin cancer. The English wicket-keeper batter shared a post on social media where he revealed that he underwent two operations to remove malignant melanoma on his chest. He also urged the cricket world to protect itself from long exposure to the sun.
"I had a melanoma that was 0.6mm (deep). The threshold of when it gets really serious is 0.7mm, so really close. If I had left that screening to go to the meeting, and waited until my next one six months down the line it could have been far, far more serious. The margins are so small but can have massive consequences," Billings said to the Telegraph.
Billings is currently playing county cricket. He has played three Test matches, 28 ODIs and 37 T20Is for his national team. Meanwhile, he stated that his battle with the disease has put things in perspective for him. "It did give me the clarity of making decisions based on what I want to do rather than maybe just toeing the line and being seen to do the right thing. I have tried to do that over the years and it's sometimes resulted in carrying drinks. You realise that cricket isn't the be all and end all. It's hugely important but you need to put things in perspective. It's also made me much more empathetic," he added.
Billings also opened up on the importance of using sun screen. He warned the cricket world about long exposure to the sun. "I'm not just talking about the pro game. It's club cricketers, people who watch the game. I played at Lord's recently and the sun was out, even if it wasn't 25 degrees. It might only have been 18 but you can still get sunburnt. We treat it (applying suncream) like a bit of a chore because the education around it isn't as good as in countries like Australia. I'd like to see everyone in cricket working together: the sun is out, so let's protect ourselves," he added.
