Coronation Street legend Beverley Callard has disclosed a worrying development as she awaits the start of her cancer treatment. The actress, renowned for her portrayal of Liz McDonald on the ITV soap, shared in January that she had been diagnosed with early-stage breast cancer. This diagnosis came just 20 minutes before she filmed her first scenes for the Irish soap Fair City, where she now plays Lily Patterson.
Since going public with her diagnosis, Beverley has been chronicling her journey on social media. She recently learned that her radiotherapy should have commenced earlier. Preparing for her first session, she admitted over the weekend to being in "fight mode." However, on Thursday, June 11, she took to Instagram to deliver another difficult update.
In a video, the soap star explained: "Well, I’ve got sort of good news, well definitely good news, but maybe bad news, but I’m not sure yet. The good news is my new script arrived yesterday in preparation for me going back to work at the end of next week. So I’m excited, I can’t wait to go back to work, and the scripts are fantastic."
"But the negative side is I’ve had quite a lot of pain in my right leg. I had to go to the GP today and it’s a suspected blood clot which can happen if you’ve got cancer and if you’ve had surgery. Now it might not be, but you know you think, ‘Oh no, please, no, no, no, no, no, no.’"
"So I’ve got to be at a hospital in the morning at 8am to have tests and all sorts of things done about that. And then I see the radiotherapist at 1.15. So that’s today’s news, but I’m feeling fine, I’m feeling quite positive. So I thank you so much for all your wonderful messages and I’m listening to everybody and trying to take everything in."
This update follows Beverley's expression of frustration last Wednesday, June 3, as she waited for her next steps. "I'm having a bit of a nightmare," she said. "I went to the hospital twice last week... I had an appointment on Tuesday with one guy and then an appointment on Thursday with Professor Janice Walsh, who's an oncologist and was amazing. And they've now referred me to the radiotherapist and she said, 'Your appointment will come through really quickly because it is quite urgent', because it's been such a long time since my operation. Anyway, not heard anything. It was a bank holiday in Ireland on Monday, so I'd not heard anything."
"So yesterday, I tried to get in touch to find out what's going on. 4.5 hours on the phone... I managed to get in touch with them [where she'll have the radiotherapy treatment] after 4.5 hours of trying, and they've never heard of me, and there's no record of me in the system." Beverley added that she would return to the hospital on Thursday morning to seek answers. "I'm gonna have to go to the hospital again in the morning and see if I can find someone to talk to and say, 'Hello, I'm here!' So, I'm still in limbo, which is driving me mad."
