Former Eurovision winner Niamh Kavanagh has said she is "heartened" by concerns raised about her neck following her appearance on last weekend’s Ray D'Arcy show.
The ‘In your eyes’ singer was on Ray D'Arcy's TV show last Saturday night, when the show received a number of emails from people in the medical profession who were watching the programme which raised concern about her neck.
Kavanagh, who won the singing competition in 1993 and represented Ireland again in 2010, spoke on today’s Ray D’Arcy show on RTÉ Radio 1 about her health scare, and how there's a 20% chance she may lose her singing voice.
Speaking on the show, Kavanagh said, “I have an enlarged thyroid, and I’ve had it for a very very long time.
“I think I first became aware of it in my 20s but it was very small, you wouldn’t have really seen it,” she said, “but at this point it’s quite enlarged, and we delayed the operation on it because it could affect my singing voice so we just waited long enough until it was safe to do so.”
Kavanagh said she was surprised that so many people responded to it, saying it was “lovely” that people made the effort to get in touch.
“It’s quite surprising how many people responded to it,” she said, “it’s lovely that they’ve made the effort and for me it’s a lovely thing that people would do that.
“I’m already scheduled for an operation; I’m having one at the end of the month actually, so it’s all very exciting, I could be singing like ‘Doctor John’ by the end of it,” she said.
Kavanagh, who is now competing on TV3’s Celebrity Masterchef, said that there is a risk of about 20% that she could lose her singing voice.
“There is a very small percentage that end up with hoarse voice syndrome which is where you just have a hoarse voice all the time so that would really be the end of things,” she said, “the bigger risk is about a 20% chance that there are two nerves running perpendicular to your neck and they will change pitch, so if they get damaged you will struggle with your voice.”
“It means I’ll be on medication for the rest of my life which makes me think I’m an old person because I’ll be talking about my medication and all that,” she said.
“Singing is my career for sure but it’s also who I am really because I’ve sung my whole life”, she said, “it’s such a huge part of how I feel, it’s just such a big decision in my head but it’s the only decision I could make.
“My mother always taught me that if something’s not right then you have to get it sorted, you don’t mess about with it, because your health is the most important thing at the end of the day”
“I really am heartened by the response.”
You can listen to the full interview here.
