When I'm Not Sticking Knives and Forks in People's Eyes, I love to Sing

May 11, 2011 - PRLog -- "When I'm not sticking knives and forks in people's eyes, I love to sing.
About a year ago, I recorded a few of my songs, with a view to raising funds for a good cause and doing something meaningful and worthwhile with my music. The IGA (International Glaucoma Association) seemed the ideal charity - luckily, they were enthused by the idea and so my album 'Through My Eyes' was conceived. Hopefully through all our efforts we will raise a significant amount of money for this excellent organisation dedicated to eradicating blindness from glaucoma, the silent thief of sight" Jay Menon

Mr Jay Menon - Consultant Eye Surgeon - was raised during the seventies in Merthyr Tydfil, South Wales. As a teenager he showed great musical promise resulting in the offer of a recording contract from EMI when he was fourteen years of age. His parents however, somewhat alarmed by this prospect promptly sent him far away from such distractions to their homeland of Kerala in Southern India in 1980 to complete his studies.

The story goes that his mother having seen Ian Anderson of Jethro Tull performing on TV - and to her horror recognising the song from being played on the stereo in her son’s bedroom!!! - decided there and then, that her son was not going to take any part in any such musical shenanigans.

After completing the formative part of his education whilst at the same time maintaining a keen interest in music Jay returned from India in 1996 to sit his fellowship exams for the Royal College of Surgeons. Having passed, he explained to his bewildered professor that he intended to give up ophthalmology and return to music. His youthful assumption was that this would be okay; after all he had satisfied his parent’s wishes by obtaining a Royal College Fellowship.

He immediately sought membership of The Musicians’ Union and also Equity only to find out a week later that his applications to both parties had been refused. Having been away from the UK for seventeen years his right of abode in the country had lapsed.

Dejected, Jay turned back to ophthalmology, returned to his professor and asked him for a reference. He then continued to train, qualified as an eye surgeon and was appointed to a consultant post at the Royal Glamorgan and Prince Charles Hospitals in South Wales; the same area where he grew up.  He also serves as the Programme Director for the All Wales Postgraduate Ophthalmology Training Rotation.

Today Jay specialises in the medical and surgical management of glaucoma.  The condition affects two per cent of people aged over forty and we are only aware of about half of the people with this eye condition, the other half remain undiagnosed!

Jay says, “After many years of working in the medical profession I felt very strongly that I wanted to do something positive and worthwhile with my music. The day job as an ophthalmologist rewards me well and gives me a decent wage – and it was time to put something back...

I would very much like to raise awareness about Glaucoma and its implications.  This is a condition that left untreated can cause irreversible damage to vision, resulting in blindness – this can often be prevented with early and appropriate treatment.

All the funds raised from sales of my CD will go to a professorial fund at Moorfield’s Eye Hospital and will be used to fund research into the pathology and management of Glaucoma.”

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Pat Tynan Media is a dedicated music PR company promoting numerous genres of recorded music and artists and their tours to radio, press and television.