Hairy Bikers’ Dave Myers reveals ‘brutal’ toll of chemotherapy amid cancer battle
HAIRY Bikers star Dave Myers has opened up about having chemotherapy calling it “really brutal”.
The celebrity chef detailed his health journey saying due to his battle with cancer he has been desperately trying to put weight back on.
Speaking on the Seasoned podcast, Dave, 65, said: “It’s funny when you first start chemotherapy, it’s quite hard – I’m still having it, it was really brutal.
“I lost so much weight and then it’s a battle to get your calories in.”
He went on to say: “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!”
The popular TV star, known to millions for being one-half of the food obsessed Hairy Bikers alongside Si King, lost his famous beard during treatment.
But more upsetting for him was being left with little appetite.
“For me, a glutton, losing my appetite was awful, a can of soup was about as far as I could go,” he added.
“Now I’ve got to the point where I’m at the weight I want to be, and I want to maintain it.”
He recently spoke about learning to walk again after his devastating cancer diagnosis.
The celebrity chef told Kaye Adams on the How To Be 60 podcast: “I really have no symptoms of the cancer, it’s the chemotherapy.
“It’s neuropathy in your feet, so it’s hard to stand. So I’ve had to learn to walk again properly.”
Detailing his treatment, he also explained: “I’m still having chemotherapy, but what I’m finding out now is you have to live with the cancer.
“It’s like a diabetic who needs insulin and constant care. That’s the state I’m in now.
“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.
“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.
“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.”
The motorbike-lover also gushed about purchasing a new motorbike, despite needing physio to learn how to ride it again.
He stated: “I’ve bought a new motorbike.
“In physio, they sit me on a Pilates ball and rock me from side to side, pretending I’m on the motorbike.
“I have a rubber band under one foot and a rubber band under the other and I’m changing and braking and making motorbike noises.
“They [the physios] are determined to get me back on the bike.”
The star also got candid about his mental health, explaining how his treatment makes him feel “depressed”.
Dave stated: “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**t. And sometimes the chemo does make you depressed.”