A comedian fears he would have died if he hadn't visited the opticians for a routine check on floaters in his eye - despite initially thinking the symptoms "would just go away".
Chris Norton Walker discovered he had been living with life-threatening conditions, which risked blindness for years, when he was dashed to hospital.
The 40-year-old man had experienced dots and lines in his vision and, though he thought they "might fix themselves", he popped to his nearest opticians to be sure.
The team at Specsavers noticed a bleed in Chris's eye and he was rushed to hospital, where doctors diagnosed him with diabetes and high blood pressure, conditions they suspected the man had been living with, undetected, for years.
Speaking exclusively to Mirror today, Chris said: "If I had not seen the optician, I think these underlying conditions would not have been spotted and I would not be here now. My blood pressure was through the roof.
"There was no pain at all (from the floaters) so I just thought it was going to go away. As I learned during the process, there aren't any pain receptors in the eye.
"I am one of the lucky ones, though I don't like to say that, but these conditions were only spotted because I went to the opticians.
"If these symptoms hadn't happened with my eye, things would be different because only then was the high blood pressure found. It was absolutely connected.
"I would have suffered permanent vision loss and other health complications due to my very high blood pressure, despite having no other symptoms."
When ophthalmic opticia Shyam Suchak, who is also store director at the Specsavers in London Colney, Hertfordshire, assessed Chris, he was so worried for the man's life he sent him to Watford General Hospital.
Chris, who works as a professional comedian, later underwent surgery at Moorfields Eye Hospital in the capital to remove fluid, including blood, from the organ.
He had to put comedy shows on hold while he recovered.
The funnyman, who lives near London Colney, said: "I only spent five or ten minutes in the Specsavers building, because they said it was such an emergency. I had the initial scans there and they looked at these results and said 'you can't be here' and told me to go to hospital. They helped prioritise that.
"I’m truly grateful for the excellent service and genuine care Shyam has provided for me, going above and beyond.
"I feel very reassured that if I have any future eye care needs, I know I’m in great hands with Shyam and Specsavers."
A doctor outlined to Mirror last year several health issues which could happen if symptoms concerning eyes are ignored.
But Chris feels people, though men particularly, feel such signs "will just go away" - and stressed this is the worst attitude to adopt.
Chris, who has no children, continued: "I suggest that if anyone experiences any changes to the eye, eyesight or vision, they go direct to their optician immediately as they should be trusted to assess symptoms.
"We hope that it will just go away with, say, an aspirin or whatever. I think absolutely men are very much like this. This isn't the case though, as things should be checked."
Shyam was concerned for Chris's life when he visited the Specsavers branch in November.
Shyam said: "Upon seeing Chris, I immediately became concerned, and my priority was to refer him as a matter of urgency to prevent not only permanent vision loss but, more importantly, risk to life.
"In this profession, it’s not uncommon for customers to come to us about one particular issue and find other things that they weren’t even thinking about. As scary as that might sound, it is always better to find out earlier rather than later.
"This is why it is so important to have regular eye tests, because the earlier we can discover any conditions, the more likely we are to be able to treat them."
