I’m staying positive says former soap star with cancer

FORMER EMMERDALE actress Leah Bracknell says she has a positive outlook on life and is not fearful despite being diagnosed with terminal lung cancer, and that she has formed a “relationship” with her cancer to try to understand it.

She also said she does not want medical professionals to “guesstimate” her life expectancy based on the statistics surrounding the disease.

Bracknell’s battle with cancer came to light in October when her partner launched a Go Fund Me page to raise money for her to undergo treatment overseas, due to a lack of options available on the NHS.

She had been diagnosed in September after rapid weight gain around her abdomen and breathlessness prompted her to seek medical help.

Bracknell, 52, told ITV’s Loose Women that while she initially felt angry about the diagnosis, she now considers herself “lucky” and that it acted as a wake-up call.

She said: “I’ve talked before about how my response was one of absolute anger, it’s infuriating – how dare you tell me this – which is why I didn’t want someone to guesstimate what someone thought my prognosis would be.

“It’s based on statistics that could be out of date, that could be not about my age, not about my specific sort of cancer. I don’t want to be a statistic.”

She said she wants to be considered an “exceptional patient”, defying the odds and what doctors have predicted.

Bracknell – who played Zoe Tate in Emmerdale for 16 years from 1989 to 2005 – added: “I don’t wake up every morning feeling fearful. I wake up feeling grateful, feeling happy.”