AFL icon Dermott Brereton’s secret battle after terrifying cancer diagnosis

Footy great Dermott Brereton has made a public plea after revealing his private health battle which has “ripped the s***” out of him.

Dermott Brereton. Photo by Brendon Thorne/Getty Images for AFL.

AFL great Dermott Brereton has revealed he has been receiving treatment after being given the terrifying news he has skin cancer.

The iconic football character has revealed he has undergone surgery and chemotherapy in an ordeal that has “ripped the s***” out of him.

The popular Fox Footy analyst has told The Herald Sun he recently had two melanoma’s removed from his thigh and his chest and has also undergone chemotherapy for a sun spot on his eye.

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The Hawthorn premiership hero said he abandoned the chemotherapy drops being used to treat his eye cancer because the impact to his body was too horrific.

“I’ve been through the wringer,’’ Brereton said.

Foxtel Personalties at the Melbourne studio. Nick Dal Santo, Dermott Brereton, Sarah Jones, Eddie McGuire, Paul Roos, David King and Mark Maclure. Picture: Tony Gough

“Melanoma on my thigh and one on my chest so they cut them out and through that I became very vigilant to have a look for all forms of cancer due to over exposure of the sun.

“I had another sun spot cancer cut off of my eyeball. We tried to get it with chemotherapy drops but in the end I just gave up, they were too horrible.

“I had my treatment cream morning and night in the last few weeks so that’s just starting to settle down a bit now. That rips the s*** out of you but we all have to deal with things.”

The 58-year-old has now made a public plea for people to simply get checked.

Dermott Brereton is one of the most insightful commentators in football. Picture: Alex Coppel.

Dermott Brereton could kick goals from anywhere. Photo by Getty Images.

Brereton has become a powerful voice for sun protection with his tough-guy reputation a perfect representation of how it is in now way “weak” for Australians to be vigilant against the sun.

Brereton is returning to Fox Footy this week ahead of the AFL season opener on Thursday night.

The Herald Sun reports Brereton’s role with the AFL-only channel will include working with the flagship, weekly ‘On the Couch’ show on Monday nights.

Originally published as AFL icon Dermott Brereton’s secret battle after terrifying cancer diagnosis