EastEnders' Cheryl Fergison share secret womb cancer battle
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Former EastEnders star Cheryl Fergison has opened up about her secret battle with womb cancer.
The actor, who played Heather Trott on the BBC One soap from 2007 to 2012, has revealed that she was diagnosed with Stage Two womb cancer in 2015 after attending a smear test.
"I’d gone for a regular smear test – which had been clear – but I’d started having a lot of backache and then I began spotting blood, which wasn’t normal for me," she explained in a new interview with the Mirror.
"I had been fitted with a coil to help with very heavy periods but somehow I just knew something didn’t feel right."
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Fourth months after undergoing multiple tests and a biopsy at the hospital, she received her cancer diagnosis.
"I was in absolute shock; stunned to the core. I couldn’t believe the doctor was talking about me," she recalled.
The former Celebrity Big Brother contestant said she was eventually recommended for a full hysterectomy, taking away any hopes of having children with her husband Yassine.
"I’d not long married Yassine and suddenly any thought of having a child together had been taken away. We may not have gone down that route, of course, but we’d lost the ability to choose," she shared.
"It brought on early menopause too; in terms of how I saw myself as a woman, it felt as if it had all come to an end. It was a horrendous time."
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Fergison trusted some of her EastEnders co-stars with the news, including Dame Barbara Windsor and Steve McFadden.
Recalling how Windsor offered to help with her financial troubles, she said: "I was in shock and said no but Barbs was insistent – I wasn’t earning. They sat there and wrote a cheque. I was sobbing but Barbara hugged me and said: 'Don’t worry. We’re always going to be here for you'."
Meanwhile, Phil Mitchell actor McFadden lent her his Cornish home so she could recover there after her hysterectomy.
After revealing that she was finally given the all-clear from doctors last year, Fergison concluded: "Listen to your body. Even if it’s the smallest concern – go and get checked because if you haven’t got health, you’ve not got no wealth. I’ve come through it and so can others. It’s all about living life now and I’m ready to fly."
If you would like more information or support about living with cancer or treatment, please click here for guidance from Macmillan Cancer Support, or click here to learn more from Stand Up to Cancer.
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