Former Emmerdale Malandra Burrows is adamant she’ll maintain a positive outlook despite her cancer diagnosis.
Malandra Burrows, 56, who played Kathy Glover in Emmerdale, will undergo six months of chemotherapy. The soap legend was diagnosed with breast cancer in February and has had a stage three tumour removed.
“I do not want to make this cancer my life,” Malandra said, in an interview with our colleagues at The Mirror. “When I tell people they say to me, ‘I can’t believe you can talk about it and be so positive,’ but it’s the reality and you have to be positive. I hope in talking about it I can raise awareness. As well as the negatives there are the positives and that’s what you’ve got to focus on.”
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The acting star found a lump after exercising and sought medical advice which led to her diagnosis. Malandra’s reaction has been a bravely positive one.
“I’d already galvanised myself before hearing the news, so I’ve never cried about it,” she explains. “In that week my body involuntarily had a breakdown.
"I didn’t feel like I was breaking down, but I just couldn’t eat or do anything. There was something in the back of my mind that knew what was going on inside my body.”
Malandra, who also previously appeared in Brookside, discussed how those close to her have reacted to her diagnosis. She’s found it somewhat surreal, potentially needing to lift others.
“I’m not very good at being poorly,” she explains. “To feel awful and low worries me.
“And I keep apologising to people when I tell them I have cancer, I don’t know why. I keep saying, ‘Sorry I’ve got cancer.’ I find I’m the one comforting people when they break down when I tell them.
“I asked my (medical) team, ‘Do I really need to go through this?’ and they said that if this cancer is allowed to spread around my body, they could do nothing more.”
Malandra will be in the thoughts of many during her treatment. You can leave a message for her in the comments below.
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