Former Super League star Micky Higham has opened up on being diagnosed with Stage 4 cancer and says he will “meet it head-on”.

Higham, who played for Leigh, St Helens, Wigan Warriors and Warrington Wolves, was originally diagnosed with Stage 3 melanoma in November 2022.

After surgery and immunotherapy he received the all-clear but in June this year, he was told the cancer had aggressively returned.

“I was just doing weights at the gym,” said Higham on the latest episode Sky Sports’ The Bench with Jenna and Jon podcast.

“For some reason, I just had a bit of a prodder in my chest and I felt a bit of a lump. Men being men, ‘it’s all right, it’s only a bit of a lump’. I just kind of thought nothing of it.

“Then kind of left it a few weeks. The lump got a bit bigger. My wife said, ‘just go and get it checked out’. Reluctantly, I went to the doctors. I said I’ve got a lump and he said it was probably some impact from the rugby.

“Then just before I left he asked me one question: ‘Does it wake you up in the night or anything?’ And I said, ‘now and again, it just aches a little bit at night’.

“He went, ‘right, I’m going to send you for an ultrasound, just in case’. I’m so glad he sent me because that was the first time that they found the melanoma in me, which I thought was in my chest, but it was in my lymph node near my armpit. I went to St Helens hospital and I got everything all removed and I was cancer free.”

However, the cancer returned over two years later and the former Super League champion is hoping to get treatment overseas after told he could not take part in a UK-based clinical trial.

He explained on his second diagnosis: “I had arthritis in my big toe, and the pain was getting to me. So anyway, I managed to get in and get it fused.

“When you have operation, you wear them daft shoes, so I was walking funny on it. Then after about two or three weeks, I just got an ache in my leg.

“I was like, ‘oh, it must be because I’m overcompensating. I’m walking on my good side.’ So again, just doing what you do because you crack on. I thought I was overusing on my right leg. I was just driving the car one day, and I was like, ‘I’m going to pull over, this is killing me’. I stretched it off.

“I left it a few more weeks. For some reason, I’ve just felt my buttock, my right glute, and I had a bit of a lump in my glute. So I just thought it must be a bit of a knot from putting all my weight on one side.

“I left it another week or two. And I just had a prod again, and it felt like a golf ball. I thought, ‘this is not a knot’.

“I thought, ‘God, I hope it’s not come back again here’. But looking back now, I think part of me knew it had probably come back.”

Higham: Please get yourself checked out

Throughout the podcast, Higham praises the staff at The Christie in Manchester, a specialist NHS cancer centre.

The 44-year-old has a fundraising page to help pay for the expensive overseas treatment and will walk between Leigh and Salford on Sunday August 24 which the public can join.

He said: “Please go and get it checked out. You might think you’re stupid that you’ve got a little mole on your hand or something, just a little scab on your cheek or your arm.

“Anything you’re unsure about or something that’s popping out of your thumb like that, go and get it checked out because you just never know.

“I know what men are like, ‘I’ll be all right’. That’s the old stigma with men. That was me. It was a harsh lesson for me. Luckily I got it before it was too late the first time. Obviously, it’s unlucky that it’s come back.

“Anything you’re unsure of that doesn’t feel right, just go to your doctor and get it checked out because that’s what they’re there for.

“It’s been challenging, tough times. But, being a rugby player over the years, having tough challenges in sport and in life, I think it’s kind of put me in good stead at the moment.

“I’m just trying to keep it positive and take each day as it comes. Whatever challenge comes, I’ll meet it head-on and do what I need to do.”

If you would like to donate to Micky’s fundraising appeal, you can do so here.