Celeb chef Rosemary’s glaucoma fears
Chef and Real Marigold TV star Rosemary Shrager on her dread of a family disease and why it led her to adopt intermittent fasting
TELEVISION chef Rosemary Shrager would wake up worried she’d gone blind in the night.
The 68-year-old – who is one of the celebrity senior citizen stars on BBC One’s The Real Marigold On Tour – has several close family members who have lost their sight due to glaucoma.
She said: “My grandmother and two great-aunts went blind, and my father had extremely restricted vision.
“As it’s often hereditary, it’s a terrifying thought that I could get it too.”
Rosemary has yearly check-ups and wants to raise awareness of the importance of regular eye tests – even if you think your eyes and vision haven’t changed.
A lot of the time, early signs of problems can be detected through routine eye tests.
“Of all the senses, losing my sight is the one I fear the most because I’ve seen what it means,” said the mum of two and gran of four.
“As a chef, my work depends on my sight. I couldn’t do what I do without it. It would finish my career.”
There are different types of glaucoma, which causes the main nerve in the eye, the optic nerve, to become damaged, usually as a result of increased pressure in the eye.
It affects 700,000 people in the UK but often doesn’t cause any symptoms in the early stages, which means many people don’t realise they have it.
Treating glaucoma early is vital in preventing it getting worse, otherwise irreversible damage and sight loss can occur. Rosemary’s no-nonsense attitude and bubbly personality, coupled with her culinary skills, have made her an on-screen favourite since she found fame as the haute cuisine teacher on reality show Ladette To Lady back in 2005. After working for Pierre Koffmann at Chelsea’s La Tante Claire and for Jean-Christophe Novelli, she started her own cooking school at Amhuinnsuidhe Castle on the Isle of Harris for six years, until she moved to Swinton Park in Yorkshire in 2003
when the owner of the castle sold up.
After a decade, she moved again and now has her own school in Tunbridge Wells, Kent.
As well as beginning her cookery career later in life, she also became a fully-fledged TV star late on thanks to her own show Rosemary Shrager’s School For Cooks and appeared on I’m A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! in 2012.
Rosemary only found out by chance 20 years ago that she could develop glaucoma.
She said: “While I was at Moorfields Eye had Hospital, a detached because retina, my I just ex-husband happened to casually mention to a nurse there was glaucoma in my family
“I was so shocked when they told me that meant I was at high risk of developing it. Looking back, I think
I take my son out to find dragons
until then I’d been in denial, not wanting to find out anything about it. They made me confront it.” With a busy life as author of six cookery books, she put it to the back of her mind and was only having eye checks every couple of years. That changed three years ago. When an optician highlighted a concern at a routine check-up, she saw a consultant ophthalmologist at an NHS hospital in Pembury, Kent. She said: “He confirmed a tiny change – a thinning – in my left eye, which could point to the potential of glaucoma happening at some point. Thankfully he told me not to worry and I didn’t need treatment – but I now have annual check-ups. “It just so happened that at that time, I’d been diagnosed with type 2 diabetes, which can also affect your sight.
“I thought, ‘I’ve now got two things that could really harm my eyesight.’ That’s when those fears of waking up one day and finding I was blind really reared up.”
Rosemary – who admits she’s been “cavalier about my health over the years” – decided on an overhaul.
She added: “In the last two years, I’ve lost a lot of weight – around three dress sizes and 14cm around my waist. I’ve reversed the diabetes diagnosis, do more exercise and look after myself a lot better.”
She admitted she’s always been big and lacked body confidence.
Nowadays, she’s found peace with her size. Rosemary said: “I’m happy with myself and realise the important thing is not to feel bloated, to listen to your body, and to feel comfortable in it.
“It’s not about size. I’m fit, I do
exercises with my personal trainer, play table tennis and I eat well.
“I have a regime where I only eat between midday and 8pm, so it’s like fasting 16 hours a day.
“It’s really helped me, I feel better in myself and have loads more energy. I snack on prunes, which are great as they fill me up and I love them.”
She insisted that it’s important to always keep a positive attitude in life but it’s fair to say getting older is far from her favourite thing. “Ageing’s ghastly,” she roared. “Surely everyone wants to reverse it. But at this stage in life, I feel happy in my own skin and feel I’ve got lots of years left.
“I’m working still, travel all over the place, and never say no to anything if I think it’s worthwhile. It’s important to enjoy yourself and never stop learning – there’s such a lot of fun learning from the young today.”
She’s the proof of the pudding.
Working on television has given her a huge lift.
She admitted: “I totally regret that I didn’t have any confidence in myself when I was young. I felt a total failure. I wish I’d known everything would work out.
“My career on television has been wonderful for me. It saved my life as a person, really, because it gave me so much more confidence.
“My passion’s always been chef-ing and cooking but I was so nervous and under-confident about speaking in public. When I first appeared on screen years ago, I could barely speak and was terrified.
“Then I slowly discovered that I actually love performing and acting, and got such fun out of combining that with my love of cooking.
“Now I have no qualms and absolutely love public speaking, teaching and demonstrating.”
Fans will agree when she’s asked to describe herself and laughs that she’s “slightly bonkers”.
She added: “I hope people say I’m a kind person who loves life. I’m happiest when I’m cooking, teaching and demonstrating, and when I’m with my children and grandchildren.”
And as for the glaucoma, Rosemary, who wears glasses for short and light-sight, acknowledges that hers might evolve when she’s older.
But she added: “Thankfully, I’m safeguarding my sight with check-ups.
“Generally, it can be treated very effectively if detected early, which is why I’m urging people to have their eyes tested.
“I don’t think I would ever go blind through it because I’m being monitored and everything’s moved on so much since my father’s day.” ●Rosemary Shrager is working with Specsavers to raise awareness of the importance of regular eye tests. For more info, visit specsavers.co.uk