Liam Fox’s fiancee was "weeks away from death" before they got together.
The ‘Emmerdale’ actor – who plays Dan Spencer in the soap – first met Joanna Hudson when they were at university together but they lost contact before getting back in touch and embarking on a romance in 2017, and the actress admitted she treasures their relationship even more after being diagnosed with rare autoimmune disease myasthenia gravis in 2015.
She said: "I was seriously ill in 2015 and nearly lost my life, which makes me appreciate what I have with Liam even more.
"I nearly died from a tumour; when it was discovered, I was weeks away from death.
"I realised something was wrong when I started getting double vision so I went to Specsavers who gave me glasses, but that didn’t help.
"I was eventually referred to a consultant and was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis.
"The consultant gave me a scan, which discovered I had a tumour caused by the illness growing on my thymus gland [near the heart], which would’ve killed me if it wasn’t discovered. I had it removed and three months later I was fully recovered!"
Joanna is thankful she hasn’t had any long-term problems from the tumour and barely thinks about it any more.
She told OK! magazine: "I go for regular scans to make sure it hasn’t come back, but so far I’ve been fine.
"At the time it totally consumed me, I was terrified, but now I don’t think about it much."
Although Liam – who was previously married to former ‘Hollyoaks’ star Nicole Barber-Lane – and Joanna have known each other for decades, he doesn’t think things would have "worked out" if their relationship had turned romantic sooner.
The actor – who proposed in April – said: "I don’t necessarily think it would have worked out if we’d got together earlier.
"We’ve both matured and grown as people and now we’re in a place where we’re ready to settle down with each other and appreciate what we have."
Liam Fox’s fiancee was seriously ill
