ZapGossip

Leah Bracknell feeling ‘better and better’ in bid to beat cancer

Leah Bracknell is feeling "better and better" each day in her fight against lung cancer.
The former ‘Emmerdale’ star is on the up after she started a medical trial to try to defeat the disease after being rejected for two other experimental attempts, and she feels "blessed" that her condition appears to have improved.
She said: "Did it work? Am I cured? I don’t know, but all I can say is that each day, little by little I feel better and better. I feel blessed.
"Next week a scan will tell me the status of the cancer: same, better or worse? The result will determine whether or not I am allowed to continue on the trial.
"So, now I must consciously chose not to succumb to what we like to call scanxiety – the creeping terror of what ifs. (sic)"
Leah – who played Zoe Tate in the ITV soap – admitted that just a few months ago she was going through a "dark" and "difficult time" with no positive outlook in sight.
Writing on her blog, ‘Something Beginning with C’, she added: "Life was proving a wee bit challenging to say the least both physically and emotionally. Actually, who am I trying to kid? It was a dark time. A difficult time. It seemed as if the way forward was closing.
"Maybe I would find a trial. Maybe. Regrettably though, from their perspective, and more crucially mine, our journey together looked like it could be drawing to an end soon.
"It took a while for the significance of the situation to truly sink in. IS THAT IT???
"Do I just go home and WAIT …? To DIE …….? (sic)"
In June, Leah – who was diagnosed with the disease in October 2016 – wrote a harrowing account of her lung cancer treatment, in which she reflected on having fluid drained from her lungs.
She wrote: "The lungs, according to Chinese medicine represent grief, and as the sea of sickness seeps from my body drop by drop I feel the release of decades of grief held vice-close, of sadness, of fear, of shame, of guilt, of secrets, of abuse, of self blame, wrong choices, missed opportunities, isolation and silence."