7 hours Ago By Emma Kilcawley Hemani
TV legend Marty Whelan has revealed how becoming a granddad has made him pay more attention to his health because he's determined to be around for as long as he can. The Lyric FM broadcaster told how the birth of his first granddaughter had been a "life-changing" moment, after daughter Jessica welcomed baby Lily Nora. The Eurovision legend is still kept busy at work at the age of 68, getting up at 4.
30am every morning for his popular Lyric FM show. Speaking about how he keeps healthy , he told The Irish Sun: “It’s trying to get a balance, give me a packet of crisps I'm a happy boy, Cadbury's chocolate - that's lovely but you still need to have an apple, you still need to have a banana - you need to have that balance. “It’s the same thing in life, if you drink then you have to watch what you drink and the amount of it.
“You need exercise , you need to be able to get out there and do things and if you notice things that aren't right about you then you've got to deal with them. “We’re not great at doing that [but] it's important to do it.” Marty, also dad to son Thomas, said daughter Jessica's little girl has made him want to do everything he can to stick around for as long as possible.
Backing a new Understanding Shingles campaign, urging the public to keep an eye on their health, Marty explained: “We're just over the moon, it's a very special time. “It sounds silly to say it because there's two children who are of an age and yet when it happens you go ‘Oh, I didn't expect it to be quite so fast’. It's very special and she's gorgeous, I am slightly besotted.
“I want to be around for her, I want to be around for my lovely wife, I want to be here for them all, you want to be around and you want to mind yourself.” The Understanding Shingles campaign is working to spread awareness to the Irish public while addressing common misconceptions surrounding the disease. Marty said: “I'm lucky I have good health which is why the idea of doing this awareness campaign makes a lot of sense to me.
“It’s about saying to people if you get something get it checked or find out what it is. “The idea of shingles, it’s important and I would look at that because your immune system changes as you get older, you have to take stock of yourself. “I'm very lucky I have robust health, but you still have to remind yourself, you're more prone to get things.
“The campaign is about awareness. As you get older your immune system weakens over the years and therefore you have to keep an eye on it. “If I got a rash I’d go ‘ah sure it’ll be grand’ - but the rash could be a sign of shingles, so they want you to check yourself and if it's sore to go and get something done about it.
“If you have a sense [that] it doesn't feel right, get in touch with someone who knows. It's important to do it, you don't want to be going around in pain unnecessarily - that'd be crazy.” A recent survey by GSK found that over one quarter or 28 per cent of Irish people are not aware that you can develop shingles more than once in your lifetime, while over four in ten did not know that blindness is a rare complication of shingles.
Over four in ten incorrectly believe that shingles is contagious, while a quarter of people surveyed did not understand the link between chickenpox and shingles. One in three people who have had chickenpox are at risk of developing shingles in their lifetime. Marty said: “I completely misunderstood the idea you can't get shingles from someone with shingles or chickenpox - you can get chickenpox from someone with shingles if you've never had chickenpox.
“That took me a while to get my head around, so you need to be aware of stuff, after all we've been through the last few years - people are still getting Covid so you've got to be conscious. “Keep an eye on it and mind yourself well, it’s about balance. The fact remains if you are younger, you're going to go ‘I'm fine because we're all invincible’ - at least we think we are.
“We get older and we're not invincible and we know that. “Balance is not easy to attain but I always try to find some balance in my life, that's been my secret all along and so far, so good.” Marty revealed that despite maintaining balance in his daily life, this changes during Eurovision, as he joked: “God knows what happens at Eurovision, I’m not responsible for that.
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