Coronation Street actress Tracy Shaw, 52, has been readmitted to the hospital amid her ongoing battle with breast cancer. Shaw posted a tearful video on Instagram on Friday, revealing she had to visit an A&E department due to high temperatures.
"I had really really high temperatures yesterday and they spiked several times," Shaw explained in the video. "I didn't want to go to A&E in the hot weather so my body has suffered today. As a consequence, I came in to A&E early this morning."
She expressed gratitude to the NHS staff, while also noting the challenges of being in a public A&E with a compromised immune system due to her cancer treatment. "It isn't easy coming in when we have cancer because there are a lot of people with - I'm not disregarding it - minor things, and some have just drank too much," she said. "It's really hard at this point when my immune [system] is so low to get through that part of the department without catching anything else."
Shaw also commented on the hospital's conditions, mentioning a broken air conditioning unit and a dispute she witnessed between engineers and nursing staff. She captioned her post, "Yesterday in A&E, I watched the nurses doctors and staff work incredibly hard in the heat with no aircon ???? Everyone who is working in hospitals today I salute you."
Shaw was diagnosed with breast cancer in April and previously shared on social media that she had undergone her first round of chemotherapy. She has spoken about experiencing side effects such as thrush and diarrhea, and described chemotherapy as a difficult process.
"The first dose, they don't really know how your body's gonna react, so it's a real big tester," she told Lorraine Kelly. "I had a reaction and thrush all over me. You think you're out of the woods with the chemo and then the next minute you get all the side effects, it's just not pleasant."
The actress discovered the cancer after finding a lump in her breast, though she initially postponed a mammogram due to concerns about cysts. A mammogram ultimately detected the lump.
Shaw has been documenting her journey on social media and has been overwhelmed by messages of support from others facing similar health challenges. She emphasized the impact of sharing her experiences, stating, "Everyone is affected and sometimes just by sharing what the effects are, they understand how that person might be feeling?"
She played Maxine Peacock on Coronation Street from 1995 to 2003. Shaw previously stated that doctors informed her she would need chemotherapy after tests revealed HER2, a protein that promotes aggressive cancer cell growth, in her cells. Following chemotherapy, she anticipated surgery to remove lumps and lymph glands, with potential further treatment including radiotherapy.