12.02.02
Bob
Mortimer – my battle with arthritis
The
comedian Bob Mortimer tells this weekÂ’s Radio Times about his
battle against rheumatoid arthritis, a disease from which his mother
also suffers.
The
42-year-old reveals that he was left in "absolute agony"
recently when the condition, which affects much of his body, spread
to his eye.
In
the My Kind of Day column in the latest Radio Times, Mortimer says:
"I have to be careful because I have rheumatoid arthritis all
over my body. Steroids keep it under control – it’s treatable,
but not curable, and it flares up with a major attack every now
and then.
"The
doctors can only give you steroids and statistics, such as thereÂ’s
a one-in-ten chance youÂ’ll end up in a wheelchair. (My mum
is crippled with it.)
"Whenever
I do a show, thereÂ’s a price to pay. IÂ’ve recently started
to suffer from iritis, which is when it attacks the iris of the
eye. It was absolute agony, but IÂ’m not going to give in to
it."
On
making a living from comedy, Mortimer says: "What a great way
to earn money – throwing jokes at each other across the living
room. I was a solicitor once, so IÂ’m truly grateful because
I know what itÂ’s like to have a proper job."
He
and his comedy partner Vic Reeves can be seen in the new series
of Shooting Stars, which begins on ÃÛÑ¿´«Ã½ TWO on Monday 18 March.
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