Hairy Bikers star Dave Myers reveals 'brutal' chemotherapy and drastic weight loss

Virgin Radio

30 Mar 2023, 09:26

Much-loved TV chef Dave Myers has opened up about the ‘brutal’ side effects of chemotherapy during his cancer fight. The Hairy Biker has also admitted he's lost a tonne of weight — and, sadly for the food-lover, his appetite.

The star, who was diagnosed with cancer last year, told the Tommy Banks’ Seasoned podcast: "It’s funny, when you first start chemotherapy… it’s quite hard. I’m still having it. It really was brutal."

Dave continued: "I lost so much weight and then it’s a battle to get your calories in.

"At first I thought, 'Right, this is great, I can eat all those pies I haven’t been eating for years', except [my] appetite was dreadful!"

He added: "For me, a glutton, losing my appetite was awful. A can of soup was about as far as I could go.

"Now I’ve got to the point where I’m at the weight I want to be, and I want to maintain it."

The treatment also affected his ability to walk. He told Kaye Adams on the How To Be 60 podcast: "By God, the chemotherapy doesn’t half age you quickly. Because your balance goes, so for someone with a motorbike that’s a disaster, and my walking has been affected quite a lot, really.

"So I’ve had to learn to walk again properly," Dave explained.

He added: "It’s a funny thing, chemotherapy, it’s one of life’s great levellers. It doesn’t matter if you’re on the telly or on the dole, if you get that then you’re in the s***. And sometimes the chemo does make you depressed.

"It's a type of chemical depression, and that's really hard, because everyone is telling you to be positive, but when the chemistry in your body is not telling you that story, that's harsh.

"But I'm going to go back to film this May, and we're going to film around the chemo. That's just the way it is really."

On living with cancer, he said: "One doesn't have an option at the minute. All I can say is it's not spreading and I'm holding my own OK. So I'm very grateful for that.

"Sometimes I feel fine and other times I just need to go to bed. Then I kind of sleep it off, a bit like a bad hangover.

"Hopefully there will be more positive chapters beyond this."

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