Coronation Street star Beverley Callard has revealed she is "quite badly burnt" as she continues breast cancer treatment. The 69-year-old actress shared the update while appearing on Irish chat show The Six O'Clock Show.
Callard, best known for playing Liz McDonald on the ITV soap, said of her condition: "Nausea, really tired and just wiped out a little bit. And I'm quite badly burnt. But I'm coping really well, actually."
Diagnosis and treatment
The I'm A Celebrity star announced earlier this year that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer around the time she joined RTE soap Fair City. She has continued to share updates with fans and recently finished her radiotherapy treatment.
Speaking about completing radiotherapy, she said: "I got through it amazingly well. I didn't have any time off work. I didn't miss a day. So I was really sort of proud of myself for that."
Back at work and awaiting prognosis
Callard is now back at work and said: "I don't know the actual prognosis yet, I see my oncologist again in two weeks time. So I'll know more then, but I'm doing well."
She revealed that people had told her she shouldn't work, but she insisted that if she didn't, she would "just sit and feel sorry" for herself. "Believe me, I've done that as well, as we all do. But I need my mind to be occupied," she said. "If I've got lines to learn, it really helps. And believe me, I've had loads to learn, so it's been good."
Initial shock and side effects
Days earlier, she had revealed the shock she felt when first diagnosed. Speaking on RTE Radio 1, she said: "They told me and they said it was cancer. It was just numb really, it took a little while for it to sink in. I just decided to keep going to work, mainly because, you just sit at home thinking about it. I worked all that day, and the next day and the next day because there was nothing I could do."
She added: "I finished radiotherapy a couple of weeks ago. I don't have the results yet, I've got to wait, I don't know what the prognosis is and the next steps are but I coped with the radiotherapy well. I said to the staff that I thought I'd done well because I'd not missed any work and let anyone down. They said 'Yeah but the worst is yet to come.' The side effects come a bit later. Burnt skin, I was very nauseous, so tired, it wipes you and I didn't think I would be."
Callard said of the treatment: "It isn't frightening, the thought of cancer is frightening, but I have met the most wonderful people through this."
