Dave Myers has backed a Specsavers and RNIB eye health awareness campaign targeted at the ageing population in Britain.
The celebrity chef and Hairy Bikers star, 61, has supported the awareness campaign, which takes place during this year’s National Eye Health Week initiative, after discovering he had glaucoma.
Myers said: ‘I was shocked when I found out that I’d developed glaucoma. Thankfully it was spotted during a routine eye test but if it had gone unnoticed, I could have gone blind, and that would have had a huge impact on how I do the job I love so much.
‘Like so many people, my career is my passion and it’s so hard to be able to imagine doing all the things I love to do if I couldn’t see, whether it’s riding my bike, reading an autocue or preparing ingredients. The thought that I could have lost my sight is really scary.’
Doug Perkins, Specsavers co-founder, added: ‘Our message via Hairy Biker Dave is that an eye test can help detect the health conditions that can go hand-in-hand with ageing – and if left untreated, cause sight loss.’
This message from Myers followed recent RNIB data that showed the over-65s are almost twice as likely to develop an eye health condition, such as glaucoma or cataracts and Specsavers research that revealed one in four people in the UK are not having an eye test every two years.