Former Emmerdale actress Malandra Burrows is undergoing treatment for breast cancer, she has revealed.
The 56-year-old soap legend was diagnosed in February and recently had a stage three tumour removed, and is now set to undergo six months of chemotherapy.
Talking to OK!, Malandra, who played Kathy Glover in Emmerdale, said she is sharing her diagnosis to raise awareness - and she's ready to fight.
"I’ve kind of gone into combat mode. If I look back, I’ve given it everything I can and that’s all I can do. I hate to say it, but when it’s your life at stake you’re prepared to do everything to get through. That’s helped me focus,” Malandra said.
The actress was diagnosed in February after finding a lump a month earlier while exercising.
At first she didn't think she needed to worry, but after a few days rang her GP, and she was asked to visit within the hour.
A week later she was at hospital, but the first consultant told her it was cyst. However a follow-up scan and ultrasound revealed the devastating truth.
Arriving at the hospital to hear the results of the scan and ultrasound, she was greeted by a Macmillan nurse, and therefore had a feeling what was coming next.
"She nearly broke down telling me, but I just went, ‘Don’t be daft! We’ll get through it and I’m going to ring that bell [to celebrate the end of treatment],’”Malandra said.
The I'm a Celeb contestant explained she hasn't cried about her diagnosis as she had time to prepare herself for the news, but her body did "involuntarily had a breakdown."
"I didn’t feel like I was breaking down, but I just couldn’t eat or do anything. There was something in the back of my mind that knew what was going on inside my body,” she said.
Medics explained that menopause may have caused her type of cancer, because of the oestrogen and hormonal balance alters.
She won't be given a prognosis until she has completed the chemotherapy course, set to take place over six months.
Malandra, who has lost friends to breast cancer, was due to have a routine mammogram in 2020, but it was cancelled due to the pandemic.
She believes the cancer may have been spotted earlier if the appointment had gone ahead.
Now Malandra is urging women to get mammograms.
"Regardless of age, if something seems odd, speak to your GP," she said.
Malandra, who also has a singing career, played one of Emmerdale's longest running characters Kathy from 1985 to 2001, and returning for a short period in 2005.
Kathy, who was married three times and dumped at the alter, saw lots of drama in her time, having been kidnapped, knocked down by a horse and trapped in a bus crash wreckage, to name but a few storylines.
