Cancer-hit Leah weds
Brave Emmerdale star ties knot after treatment failed
Cancer-stricken soap star Leah Bracknell has quietly married her partner, we can reveal. The 53-year-old former Emmerdale actress tied the knot with her author boyfriend Jez Hughes, 44, last March after her treatment had stopped working. The couple said their vows at an intimate register office ceremony in Horsham, Sussex.
Mum-of-two Leah, who played Emmerdale vet Zoe Tate from 1989 until 2005, was diagnosed with terminal lung cancer in September 2016.
But despite the devastating prognosis, she has stayed upbeat, winning fans’ hearts with her positive outlook.
“The bad news is that I have been diagnosed with lung cancer, stage 4,” she wrote at the time.
“In their opinion, that means it’s terminal. A fairly brutal and bleak diagnosis but one I am determined to see from the perspective of a glass half full.”
Leah initially chose immunotherapy, but it wasn’t available on the NHS. A Facebook appeal raised nearly €75,000.
Then she found she was eligible for a UK drug trial. By last March, that treatment was no longer working. Since her wedding she has had chemo to prepare for immunotherapy.
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nicola.small@sundaymirror.co.uk