Coronation Street actress Tracy Shaw has shared an emotional update after being diagnosed with breast cancer
Tracy Shaw’s emotional cancer update: ‘I can’t go through with this anymore.’(Image: tracy.k.shaw/Instagram)
Beloved Coronation Street star Tracy Shaw was close to tears as she braced herself for chemotherapy treatment.
The 52-year-old actress, widely recognised for her role as Maxine Peacock on the ITV soap between 1995 and 2003, revealed last month that she had received a breast cancer diagnosis and has been keeping her followers updated throughout her journey.
On Tuesday evening, she shared a video on social media showing herself wearing a headscarf, while making it clear she hadn’t shaved her head, and confessed she had spent the morning having a “good cry” as the reality of what lay ahead began to sink in.
In the Instagram video, she opened up: “I’m just going to be me, and my truth is…by the way, I’ve not shaved my hair off, I’ve just put a scarf on just because I’ve not done anything with it and I’m going to hospital.
“Each morning I wake up and know that I have to go into hospital and receive more news, which has been going on for a long time, that unknown…I just think ‘I can’t go through with this anymore,’ but I’ve not even started my journey.
“I’ve had a good cry. I’ll go in later today and I’ll meet some other ladies who will start the treatment with me – chemo. And I’ll find out the date. 50% of me wants to get going. I want to know that it’s being shrunk and the cancer is being dealt with. When I wake up and I’ve got really bad headaches or I can feel another twinge in my other boob, I just think ‘Oh, it’s moving!’
“With HER2 cancer, we don’t really know what it’s doing, we know that the clips are in into know where those two lumps are placed, but until we’ve shrunk it… We, I mean the medical experts, I thank God for everyone who has raised money in the past for charities to be able to help scientists find new drugs be able to give women and gentleman like us a chance.
“If this was a few years ago, possibly they would’ve cut the cancer out but it’s not one that behaves, not that any one cancer does.”
The actress, who also had a brief stint in the music industry with her cover of Lonnie Gordon’s Happenin’ All Over Again before appearing in Casualty, Doctors and Mile High, has previously spoken candidly about her battles with addiction. She explained that this time around, she’s coping by approaching her illness incrementally, reports the Mirror.
She continued: “All forms of cancer are awful, most of the time, I get on with life but then I think that’s probably what we do. But the fact is when you wake up in the morning and you think ‘It hasn’t gone away.’ It isn’t like the addictions that I’ve recovered from by the grace of God. There appears to be a long road ahead, or a mountain.
“I had some great guidance which is ‘Don’t look up, just keep going to the next base camp, don’t climb Mt Everest, just keep taking one base camp at a time.’
“So today, I’ll be going into the hospital and I’ll be seeing my wonderful oncologist, and some other wonderful women on this journey with me, and I will face the next base camp.”
When Tracy shared the heartbreaking news nearly a month ago, numerous co-stars rallied around the mother of two, flooding social media with messages of support and encouragement.
Samia Longchambon, who has portrayed Maria Connor in the soap since 2000, commented: “Sending love to you Tracy.” Former Corrie actress Sally Ann Matthews, known for her role as Jenny Bradley, added: “Love you baby girl x.”
The NHS states that breast cancer remains the most prevalent form of cancer amongst women in the UK. Surgery is typically the primary treatment for breast cancer in women and those with breasts.
Additional common treatments encompass chemotherapy, radiotherapy, hormone therapy, as well as targeted medicines and immunotherapy.
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