Coronation Street’s Tracy Shaw, 52, breaks down in tears as she’s readmitted to hospital amid breast cancer battle

Coronation Street star Tracy Shaw broke down in tears as she filmed herself in hospital during her battle with breast cancer.

The 52-year-old soap star revealed on Instagram on Friday that she had to go to A&E despite trying to avoid hospital in the heat, saying she was always worried about going to A&E because of the risk of infection.

In a tearful video she explained: ‘I’m in A&E I had a really high temperature yesterday and it went up a few times. I didn’t want to go to A&E in the hot weather so my body suffered today.

‘As a result I arrived at A&E early this morning and would like to thank the NHS and everyone in the A&E department.

‘It’s not easy to come here when we have cancer because there are so many people – I’m not ruling this out – there are little things and some have drank too much.

‘It’s really hard for my immunity to be at this point [system] It’s so despicable to get through that part of the episode without getting caught by anything else.’

The 52-year-old soap star revealed he had to go to A&E despite trying to escape hospital in the heat, and said he was always worried about A&E because of the risk of infection.

Thanking the NHS, Tracy said the air conditioning broke down at the hospital and she witnessed a fight that broke out after the nursing staff got in the way after engineers arrived to fix the problem.

She captioned the post: ‘Yesterday in A&E I saw nurse doctors and staff working incredibly hard in the heat with no air conditioning ????

‘I salute everyone working in hospitals today.’

Tracy was diagnosed with breast cancer in April and shared on Instagram last month that she was undergoing her first round of chemotherapy.

The star has since spoken out about the side effects of her treatment; including thrush and terrible bouts of diarrhoea.

Earlier this month she spoke to Lorraine Kelly about the impact of her treatment and said she had no idea how her body would respond to chemotherapy.

He said: ‘I’m fine today, it’s not an easy road and I’m just sharing this because there are millions and millions of ladies and gentlemen going through the same thing and it’s really not a pleasant part of the disease, of chemotherapy.

‘The first dose, they don’t really know how your body is going to react, so it’s a really big test and now they know it’s basically like chickenpox.

‘I had a reaction and thrush all over. You think you’re out of control with the chemo and the next minute you start seeing all the side effects, it’s not nice.’

Tracy shared that she was diagnosed with cancer after finding a lump in her breast, but explained that she went to the doctor for a different health issue when she was referred for a mammogram.

She said: ‘Because it was under my breast and not on my breast, I thought it couldn’t happen and I put it off thinking it would get better, but actually this lump was sort of above my rib, so I went to the doctors and they were more worried about my cysts because I was on HRT, so HRT was feeding the cancer, it wasn’t causing it but it was feeding it.

‘So the cysts were firm and painful so that’s why I went, it wasn’t necessarily because of the swelling and the mammogram detected the lump.’

Tracy played Maxine Peacock in Corrie from 1995 to 2003 before she was killed by serial killer Richard Hillman (pictured in the series)

Tracy has been documenting her battle with breast cancer on social media and told Lorraine she has been overwhelmed by the messages of support from others going through the same thing.

She added: ‘The whole family and everyone who follows and messages, there are mothers with sons, little sons, sons my age, family members texting.

‘Everyone is affected and sometimes just by sharing what the effects are they understand how that person is feeling?

‘You don’t know, the survivors are amazing, the ones who actually reach out to me and give me advice and tips and you don’t really know what it feels like unless you’ve been there because there’s no normal in your life anymore when you’re going through chemotherapy.

‘I consider myself very, very lucky because there are so many people worse off than me, people with terminal diagnoses.

‘There are people suffering so much more than me, I wake up every day and thank God that I have been given this opportunity.’

Tracy played Maxine Peacock in Corrie from 1995 to 2003 before she was killed by serial killer Richard Hillman.

She previously shared that doctors told her she would need chemotherapy after tests revealed she had HER2 in her cells.

HER2 is a protein that promotes cancer cell growth and is found in more aggressive forms of the disease.

The actress added that after a course of chemotherapy, she hopes to have surgery to remove the masses and lymph nodes so more tests can be done, which could lead to more surgery before radiotherapy.

Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world, affecting more than two million women annually.

Breast cancer is one of the most common cancers in the world. More than 55,000 new cases occur in the UK each year and the disease claims the lives of 11,500 women. It strikes 266,000 people and kills 40,000 each year in the United States. So what causes this and how can it be treated?

What is breast cancer?

It comes from a cancerous cell that develops in the lining of a duct or lobule in one of the breasts.

When breast cancer spreads into surrounding tissue it is called ‘invasive’. Some people are diagnosed with ‘carcinoma in situ’, where no cancer cells grow beyond the duct or lobule.

Most cases develop over the age of 50, but sometimes younger women can be affected. Although rare, breast cancer can also develop in men.

Staging shows how large the cancer is and whether it has spread. Stage 1 is the earliest stage, and stage 4 means the cancer has spread to another part of the body.

Cancerous cells are graded from low (i.e. slow growth) to high (rapid growth). Higher-grade cancers are more likely to come back after initial treatment.

What causes breast cancer?

A cancerous tumor starts from an abnormal cell. The exact reason why a cell becomes cancerous is unclear. It is thought that something damages or changes certain genes in the cell. This makes the cell abnormal and proliferates ‘out of control’.

Although breast cancer can develop for no apparent reason, there are some risk factors, such as genetics, that can increase the chances.

What are the symptoms of breast cancer?

Although most are noncancerous and are benign fluid-filled cysts, the usual first symptom is a painless lump in the breast.

The first place breast cancer usually spreads is the lymph nodes under the armpit. In such a case, a swelling or lump will occur in your armpit.

How is breast cancer diagnosed?

• Initial evaluation: The doctor examines the breasts and armpits. They may perform tests such as a mammogram, which is a special X-ray of breast tissue that can show the possibility of a tumor.
• Biopsy: A biopsy is the removal of a small sample of tissue from a part of the body. The sample is then examined under a microscope to look for abnormal cells. The sample can confirm or rule out cancer.

If you are confirmed to have breast cancer, more tests may be needed to evaluate whether it has spread. For example, blood tests, ultrasound scan of the liver or chest x-ray.

How is breast cancer treated?

Treatment options that may be considered include surgery, chemotherapy, radiotherapy and hormone therapy. Often a combination of two or more of these treatments is used.

• Surgery: Breast-conserving surgery or removal of the affected breast, depending on the size of the tumor.
• Radiotherapy: It is a treatment that uses high-energy radiation beams focused on cancerous tissue. This kills cancer cells or stops them from multiplying. It is mainly used as an adjunct to surgery.
• Chemotherapy: Cancer treatment using anti-cancer drugs that kill cancer cells or prevent them from multiplying.
• Hormone treatments: Some types of breast cancer are affected by the ‘female’ hormone oestrogen, which can encourage cancer cells to divide and multiply. Treatments that reduce the level of these hormones or prevent them from working are commonly used in breast cancer patients.

How successful is the treatment?

The outlook is best for people diagnosed when the cancer is still small and has not spread. Surgical removal of the tumor at an early stage may give a good chance of cure later.

Routine mammography offered to women aged 50-71 means more breast cancers are diagnosed and treated at an early stage.

For more information, visit breastcancernow.org or call the free helpline on 0808 800 6000.