Coronation Street icon Tracy Shaw has emotionally admitted that there is "nothing normal about life" amid her cancer treatment. The actress, 52, announced earlier this year that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer and recently started treatment for the disease.
Appearance on Lorraine
The former soap star, who famously played Maxine Peacock on Coronation Street from 1995 until 2003, appeared on Thursday morning's edition of Lorraine where she gave an update to fans after previously admitting that she was struggling to find "strength" amid the aggressive chemotherapy treatment.
Dressed in a colourful headscarf and wearing bright makeup, Tracy told Lorraine: "Unless you've been there, you don't know how awful it really feels because there's nothing normal about your life anymore when you're going through chemo."
Grateful Despite Struggles
Despite this, the actress, who has also appeared extensively in theatre as well as dramas such as Mile High and Casualty, and also enjoyed a brief pop career with a cover of the Lonnie Gordon hit Happenin' All Over Again, still considers herself "lucky" and is just trying to raise awareness as she called on the government to increase funding.
She said: "I consider myself very, very lucky and very fortunate. There's so many people diagnosed with a lot worse than I am, people who have been diagnosed with a lot worse than I am. There's people been diagnosed with terminal, there are people who are suffering much more than me so every day I just wake up and thank God that I've been given this opportunity.
"That's why I try and raise money. Without the scientists and the charities that raise money to be able to fund these experiments, who give me the opportunity to live, basically. If we had more funding, government, and more funding for the likes of cancer and injections and things that move forward, we would stand more of a chance for ladies and gentleman to live today."
Recent Health Scare
It comes just days after Tracy tearfully admitted she had "no strength left" and that she had begun to feel incredibly "vulnerable" amid her ordeal, especially after a dash to A&E that took place last weekend.
She said: "Day 10 after chemo. Another trip to A&E...most of the day asleep. I've got cream for thrush all in my nose, my mouth, my ears, my head. I've been constantly on the toilet and there's no strength left. In my head I thought there may be a break after maybe a week after chemo so this is the effects that the chemo has had on the body.
"So, basically, the chemo kills everything - including the lining on my stomach. There is no strength and there is no...it feels like I'm as vulnerable as a baby. It's very difficult to be around people, that have been around noises, you're so sensitive. I still can't taste anything or eat anything, my staple diet is six eggs, and plain crisps and plain bread. It just feels really tough today."
Support from Neighbour
Tracy, who has two adult sons from a previous relationship, previously spoke of how much she had begun to rely on her eldest but, on this particular day, he was away at a wedding so her neighbour stepped in to take her to hospital but was dealt with a "setback" when the chemist did not have her prescription in stock.
She added: "It just feels really...difficult to dig deep without the help of the ladies that I'm in contact with on Instagram, when I do go into A+E and see doctors, I rely on their help and their guidance for what they've been prescribed, to advice the doctors in A+E so thank you, ladies for saving my life today. Being day 10, my son had to go to a wedding and I thought I'd be absolutely fine at home alone, and when I rung my triage team, I had to go into A&E today.
"So without the help of my neighbour Robbie, who has no end of times I've had to call him for things, he had to get out of bed to get me to A&E and then we had hours in A&E, given a prescription. When we got it to a chemist, they hadn't got it in so he went on his motorbike to some other chemists to try and get hold of the prescription.
"This is just something we have to do. I guess they don't give you every prescription that they think might happen. I don't know, is this because of money? I don't know. But this is really painful and I was just looking forward to not having to inject anymore and to stop having the bone marrow pain to then have these extra setbacks, really, which seems to be from what I hear from you survivors, that you have done on your own and survived this - you are just incredible."
