Diane Keen made her name during the ’70s and ’80s in TV sitcoms The Cuckoo Waltz and Rings On Their Fingers. Now 69, Diane is divorced and lives in Hampshire. She has one daughter, Melissaw

You would think climbing to the top of Mount Kilimanjaro , at nearly 6,000m, would have been hard enough, but I managed to get injured before I’d even set foot on the mountain.

In June, just a fortnight before I was due to fly to Tanzania, I suffered a freak
accident. One night, I went to put my foot down on a stair and misjudged it, rolling my foot over in the process. It was throbbing like mad and when I looked next morning, I couldn’t believe it.

My foot looked almost alien. It didn’t look like it belonged to a human being!

Diane Keen at Kilimanjaro
Diane Keen at Kilimanjaro

It got worse over the next day or so, swelling up like a rugby ball and turning black. It was excruciatingly painful. But after spending a year training for the climb, no way was I going to miss it!

I avoided the doctor because I knew he’d confirm it was serious and stop me flying.

I lay around for five days with ice packs on my foot, pressure bandages and kept my foot elevated as much as possible.

I took painkillers and eventually got the swelling down.

After a few days, I could just about hobble along with sticks. When the day of the trip arrived I was still in awful pain. But I managed to get my trekking boots on and headed to Heathrow on July 9 for the 10 day trip.

I’m a patron of Lion Aid and this was a charity climb with 28 other people, including my god-daughter and her sister. The climb took seven days, up and down. It was harder than I expected. You don’t need to be a mountaineer to climb Kilimanjaro but it’s not easy. The air gets thin as you climb and most people get coughs and chest infections from the dust. At night, it’s freezing cold.

I was much slower than everyone else, about three hours behind, because of my foot. It was a very painful experience but, thankfully, I had a marvellous team of guides with me all the way.

What helped me get through the pain were my sturdy boots because they held my foot in place and meant I was able to complete the climb, albeit very slowly.

Diane Keen
Diane's X-ray

When I got home, I visited my doctor and was referred to the hospital for an X-ray which revealed I’d badly broken two outside bones on my left foot. One of them was jagged and sticking out. I was told that bones start to heal after about a week but my injury was three weeks old. They put me in an air boot for six weeks and the specialist thought it might help straighten the bone. Luckily it has and it looks much better.

But if that wasn’t bad enough, two weeks ago, I stupidly fell over in the garage and damaged my right foot. Fortunately, my daughter, Melissa, was there and rushed me to hospital. Luckily, the bone wasn’t broken but ligaments were damaged. My right foot swelled and went black but not as bad as on my left foot. My right foot is still tender.

Currently, I’m touring in the play You’re Never Too Old. I used to move around the stage but now I’m sitting all the time.

My left foot is almost better, too, although I aggravated it when I fell over in the garage. I like to keep fit and visit the gym regularly. While training for Kilimanjaro, I went up to six days a week and concentrated on lots of cardio exercises and weights.

During this period, I also discovered the joys of trekking, which I did to get my legs ready for the long ascent and descent. Going down is harder on your legs and on long treks like Africa’s highest mountain you can damage your toes.

Going to the gym has become part of my life. A sedentary lifestyle is bad at any age, especially for older people.

I also do other forms of exercise, including swimming with friends. It’s social, great exercise and gentle on your muscles and bones.

Overall, though, I class myself as healthy and am rarely ill. The only other major health treatment I’ve had was laser eye surgery about 10 years ago. Reading scripts was becoming more difficult and I had to rely more and more on my glasses with varifocal lenses. The trouble was, I found it difficult to function wearing them because I ended up constantly looking through the wrong part of the lenses.

I became very over-cautious and even nervous putting one foot in front the other. Eventually, I decided to have laser eye surgery, costing around £1,500 per eye.

I went to an exceptionally good doctor, David Allamby, who had a revolutionary machine which changed the shape of my eye from football shape to more like a rugby ball shape. My eyesight was fantastic for a long time after but as you get older your eyes change and it might be time to get them done again.

I always eat healthily. Fortunately, I don’t like the taste of sticky buns, biscuits or anything like that. I eat lots of veg, chicken, fish and a little meat. But rather than sit down for set meals, I’ll graze during the day. A typical breakfast would involve fruit, toast or a huge smoothie made from various fruit. I like spelt bran as well. I’ve started using spelt flour – which is a whole-grain, non-wheat flour – in my cooking because I feel it’s more natural for the digestive system.

I’ll also eat lots of salad and veg, including new potatoes. But whatever I make, it has to be quick because I’m not mad on cooking.

  • Diane is touring in You’re Never Too Old until November 14 and then at London’s Aldwych Theatre from November 30 in Beautiful – The Carole King Musical. Visit beautifulmusical.co.uk for further information.