More on KentOnline
More on KentOnline
Comedian Vic Reeves is living with a benign brain tumour which has rendered him deaf in one ear.
Reeves, who lives in Charing, near Ashford, told The Adam Buxton Podcast doctors could not operate on the grape-sized tumour but could keep and eye on it and shrink it if necessary.
The 62-year-old whose real name is Jim Moir said: "I’ve got what’s called a vestibular schwannoma. It’s a tumour in my head. I’ve gone completely deaf, one hundred percent deaf, in my left ear. It will never come back.
"I’d rather hear than not, but it’s happened so you just get on with it don’t you. I’ve got used to it."
The rare tumour grows slowly over the years and does not spread to other parts of the body.
It impacts the nerve that connects the brain to the ear and can cause hearing loss, vertigo and facial numbness.
He added: "I like to go out bird watching and I never know where the birds are. I can hear them but I don’t know what direction they are. If an aeroplane flies over, or a car approaches, I don’t know where it is.
"I had to throw away all my stereo LPs. It’s absolutely dead. Gone."
Explaining what has caused his condition he added: "So [the nerve] has gone ping and snapped. And you can’t re-attach nerves. Not at this stage in medical science anyway. But in the future? Probably the week after I perish there will be great news.
"My dad died of prostate cancer. And about a year later he would have lived."
The dad-of-four lives with wife Nancy Sorrell and is best known for his double act with Bob Mortimer, who also lives in Kent.
The pair most famously hosted irreverent game show Shooting Stars, which featured a large model of a dove and Matt Lucas dressed as a baby who played the drums.
He is also an accomplished artist under his real name.
