Cancer, the lost eye, and an emotional Rugby Park return
“Obviously going through the cancer journey I have, [Pack the Park] was a bit closer to home.”
Paul Miller has taken to Rugby Park in Invercargill on many occasions over the years. Included was a showdown with the British & Irish Lions in 2005.
But at 46 years old - and close to 14 years after his professional playing days finished - not many were more special than Saturday for Miller.
The former All Black No 8 and Southland Stag ran onto Rugby Park to play in the Pack the Park fixture on Saturday.
It occurred close to three years after his cancer diagnosis which took a sledgehammer to Miller both physically and mentally.
He had noticed a lump close to his eye in March, 2021 and decided to visit his doctor. He was advised to return if the lump grew any bigger.
It did.
Miller returned for a second visit and after tests, it was discovered he had a golf-ball-sized cancerous tumor growing behind his eye.
It floored the Waikaka legend.
He underwent surgery where he had his right eye removed, as well as the tumor. Miller also had 32 lymph nodes, from his ear down to his neck, removed in an eight-hour-long operation conducted by two surgeons.
That was before he underwent daily radiation treatment for six weeks.
Three years on - when the prospect of playing in Saturday’s Pack the Park rugby event surfaced - Miller said it was a “no-brainer”.
He had to play.
The occasion - which attracted a crowd of over 10,000 - was a thank you to the community for raising the required funds to get a charity hospital built in Southland.
The charity hospital idea was sparked following the late Blair Vining and his widow Melissa Vining’s push for better cancer care.
For Miller, Saturday also doubled as his own personal thank you to those who had supported him through his cancer journey.
“Obviously going through the cancer journey I have, [Pack the Park] was a bit closer to home.”
“I just wanted to say thank you. I had a lot of support from friends, whether it was food packages for my wife, that sort of thing. It made my transition into my recovery that bit easier.
“John Blaikie, and Hale T-Pole, they were really great. A few boys from the Highlanders rallied around and helped.
On top of that thank you, there was also an eagerness from Miller to show people that if you have an eye removed, as he has, or any other body part for that matter, it didn’t need to hold you back.
“It was a message I wanted to show personally. For myself, it was to prove to myself that I could do it, and hopefully inspire others as well.”
With the help of another former Highlander, Matt Carrington - who is now a physio in Dunedin - Miller has clawed his way back physically.
It started by simply walking.
His brother Wayne gave Paul one of his dogs which helped encourage him to get out walking in the mornings.
Miller has since got to the point where he has joined up with a F45 Training gym.
“I needed to reset my lifestyle habits, in a way, because they were probably a bit dormant before I got diagnosed with cancer, so it gave me that reset.”
Miller will also remain under oncology care for another two and half years, which includes check-ups. That provides him with some comfort.
As for the game itself on Saturday?
Miller felt it might not have been as physical as the previous Pack the Park game four years ago, which he also played in.
Although he admitted the length of phases of play was taxing fitness-wise, which was fuelled by referee Keith Brown’s eagerness for a free-flowing game.
The sight of over 10,000 people at Rugby Park thrilled Miller, and in some part transported him back in time.
“The last time I recall it being that packed for a game was probably the 2005 Lions game. Obviously, they’ve had some big Southland-Otago games too.”
Miller said the occasion was a credit to what Melissa Vining had done and the way Southland rallied around people as a community.