Dave Myers of Hairy Bikers has revealed chemotherapy left him ‘depressed’ as he had to ‘learn to walk again’ and has been doing physio in a desperate attempt to get back on his bike.
The 65-year-old star, who went public with his diagnosis in May, has chosen not to publicly reveal the type of cancer he has, but previously told his fans that he was undergoing chemotherapy.
He is grateful his cancer has ‘not spread’ and plans to return to work in May with his colleague C King, but revealed how he was sent some free male grooming tools when he was diagnosed with his cancer It was least needed during the height of the treatment – when his genitals looked like ‘two billiard balls’.
Speaking on the How To Be 60 podcast: ‘I’m still having chemotherapy, but what I know now is that you have to live with cancer. It’s like a diabetic patient who needs insulin and constant care. Right now I am in the same condition.
‘By God, chemotherapy doesn’t age you half as quickly. Because your balance is thrown off, it’s a disaster for someone with a motorbike and my walking has been really affected.
‘But I’m going to film this May, and we’re going to film around Chemo. It really is like that.
‘Nobody has a choice at this point of time. All I can say is that it is not spreading and I am holding my OK. So I am very grateful for that.
‘Sometimes I feel good and other times I need to go to bed. Then I kind of sleep it off, like a bad hangover.’
The television presenter told how her treatment affected her physically so badly she had to learn to walk again.
‘I don’t really have any symptoms of cancer, it’s chemotherapy,’ he said. ‘It’s neuropathy in your feet, so it’s hard to stand. So I have to learn to walk properly again’
‘It’s a strange thing chemotherapy, it’s one of the great stages of life. It doesn’t matter if you’re on TV or on the dole, if you get that then you’re in sex. And sometimes chemo makes you sad.
‘It’s a kind of chemical depression, and it’s really hard, because everyone is telling you to stay positive, but when the chemistry in your body isn’t telling you that story, it’s hard.
‘Hopefully there are more positive chapters ahead of this.’
And as part of looking to the future in a positive way Dave has included buying a new motorbike when he is in fit condition.
He continued: ‘I have bought a new motorcycle. At physio, they make me sit on a Pilates ball and rock me from side to side, pretending I’m on a motorbike.
‘I have a rubber band under one foot and a rubber band under the other and I’m turning and applying the brakes and making motorbike sounds.
‘They [the physios] Determined to get me back on the bike.
He added: ‘There are so many more adventures I want to do. As long as people keep watching the program and buying books, I don’t need to retire, till I am 110 years old, till the time I can breathe.’
Meanwhile, Dave recalls the moment he was sent some grooming equipment during chemotherapy, but he wasn’t able to use them because he had ‘two billiard balls’.
He said, ‘I once mentioned about pubic hair and decorations in my podcast and I found this through manscaping on Facebook. It was a set of clippers for men to shave off their nuts and bits to keep everything nice and clean.
‘A few weeks later, this very expensive device arrived in the post, and I was at the heart of chemotherapy. It was the last thing in the world I needed!
‘It was like two billiard balls in there, I didn’t need any of that. I looked like a fetus. It was not a good look.
‘But it’s fantastic my hair is back now, it’s better than it was before chemo, which I’m very happy about.’
Dave has struggled with illness in the past, after being diagnosed with a cyst in his brain in 1998, and later with glaucoma, an eye condition that can lead to blindness.
Diagnosed with a cyst in his brain that same year, Dave sadly lost his fiancée to cancer, having previously described 1998 as the worst year of his life.