Nick presumably raising a glass to his cancer-catching opticianA man owes his life to a routine eye check up - after an optician spotted a lethal tumour.
Lucky Nick Leatham, 76, was being fitted for new glasses at Specsavers when optician Jonathan Eva noticed an abnormality.
Nick was referred to hospital where doctors diagnosed malignant melanoma and removed his right eye. But if the tumour had been missed it would have proved fatal.
Nick, of Redruth, Cornwall, said: "If it wasn't for Jonathan spotting the tumour and contacting the doctor. I would probably have been dead within six months.
"I can joke about it now. My grandchildren call me 'pirate papa'.
"The surgeon said he could operate to try to save the eye, but if he left even the smallest part of the tumour behind it could find its way to my liver.
"I thought it was better to be alive with one eye than dead with two."
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Jonathan, director of Specsavers in Redruth, said: "It wasn't there when he had his last check-up. This all happened within twelve months."
Nick's story comes after last week's eye health awareness drive, designed to remind Brits to get their eyes examined every year. Not only can a regular trip to the opticians help with specific eye complaints, but as in Nick's case, the eyes can give away a whole host of other illnesses and increase the chance of prompt treatment.
