Former Emmerdale actress Malandra Burrows claims her dog saved her life after alerting her that she had cancer.
The 56-year-old first realised something wasn't right when she was curled up on the sofa with her border terrier Teddy and the pooch refused to settle down.
Teddy then thumped her head against the former Emmerdale star's breast, causing agonising pain in her chest that she could not ignore.
Just one month later, she was given a devastating cancer diagnosis and now credits her beloved pooch with saving her life.
Speaking on Lorraine, Malandra explained: “She insisted on lying on my chest and was constantly nuzzling me.
“She just kept looking up at me, staring in a very strange way, then without any warning she thumped me with her head on my left breast so hard it brought tears to my eyes.”
In a great degree of pain, Malandra decided to knock her plans to watch a movie on TV on the head.
“It hurt so much that before I went to bed I checked to see if there was any bruising, which was the moment I felt something that had never been there before,” she said.
“It felt like a swollen gland, which I put down to Teddy’s blow.”
Malandra says she decided to “give it the weekend to ease” but by Sunday night the swelling remained.
“I contacted my GP on the Monday morning to explain what had happened, and as I’d had no symptoms whatsoever I was certain it would disappear on its own,” she said. “Thankfully my GP disagreed and asked me to see her straight away. This was the beginning of a very new journey indeed.”
A week later in hospital, a consultant told her it was most likely a cyst. However, a follow-up scan and ultrasound showed something more sinister.
She was told to come in as soon as possible and was greeted by a Macmillan nurse, who was on hand to help her cope with the news she had stage-three breast cancer.
It has been nothing short of a whirlwind since. An operation to remove the tumour in her left breast followed and she now faces six gruelling months of chemotherapy.
But she constantly thinks back to that Friday night in front of the telly. “If it were not for Teddy I would never have known about this and I honestly believe she saved my life,” she said.
“She’s a truly wonderful little character, we have such a strong bond and I’m so grateful for her. I’ve even forgiven her for chewing up the sun lounger.”
Get the latest celebrity gossip and telly news sent straight to your inbox. Sign up to our weekly Showbiz newsletter here .
