Under the microscope

British Army veteran Simon Weston, 55, answers our health quiz

CAN YOU RUN UP THE STAIRS?

YES. I used to run five or six miles a day and did a lot of weight lifting, but as you get older your knees and joints don’t take it so well. Nowadays I do sit-ups and walk every couple of days.

GET YOUR FIVE A DAY?

I DON’T like fruit unless it’s in a gin and tonic. I have a fruit intolerance — eating raw apples, pears and peaches with their skin on makes my lips burn.

EVER DIETED?

I PILED on weight after I was injured in the Falklands. I don’t eat much fried food or takeaways now. I was just over 20 st at my heaviest and am 16 st now (I’m 5ft 10in).

ANY VICES?

AFTER my injury I’d drink in one day what most people have in two weeks — but now I don’t drink to excess, or during the working week.

ANY FAMILY AILMENTS?

I DON’T know my biological father’s side because he left when I was young. My mother had a heart attack at 69, but that could happen to anyone.

WORST ILLNESS?

I HAD a kidney stone a few years ago — it was the worst pain I’d ever experienced, even worse than after I was burnt. They dragged it out under general anaesthetic.

POP ANY PILLS?

I TAKE ramipril for blood pressure, hay fever tablets and multivitamins.

HAD ANYTHING REMOVED?

APART from my kidney stone, my little finger on my left hand. After it got burned it curled up, so I was advised to have it removed.

HOW MUCH PLASTIC SURGERY HAVE YOU HAD?

I HAD almost 100 operations, from my head to my ankle, and I may have more, this time on my eyelids. I needed skin grafts because a large part of my body was burnt, but I had infections so the skin grafts had to be replaced.

COPE WELL WITH PAIN?

YES, but I didn’t know that until I got burnt.

EVER BEEN DEPRESSED?

I HAVE, but it was inevitable — I was disfigured, disabled, and had lost my friends, fiancee, career, and all that mattered to me. I also had PTSD.

WHAT KEEPS YOU AWAKE?

NIGHTMARES used to wake me — I was getting burned and bombed every night. But it was cured by meeting the pilot who blew me up. Latterly my tinnitus would wake me at night, but hearing aids have helped.

ANY PHOBIAS?

A PARALYSING fear of heights, which my children (aged 19, 23, 26) used to find amusing when they were small.

LIKE TO LIVE FOR EVER?

IF I could always be 35, with no aches and pains.

Simon is an ambassador for hearing health specialist Amplifon. amplifon.com