Emmerdale actress Malandra Burrows, best known for her role as central character Kathy Glover, has opened up about how she found out she had cancer.
The star spoke to The Mirror about how she discovered a pain in her chest, which was made apparent by her pooch Teddy.
She recalled that she was on the sofa with her pup who “refused to settle down”, just before she “bashed her head” into the actress’ breast.
Malandra was left with an “agonising pain in her chest” which she “couldn’t ignore”.
The 56-year-old said: “She insisted on lying on my chest and was constantly nuzzling me. She just kept looking up at me, staring in a very strange way, then without any warning she thumped me with her head on my left breast so hard it brought tears to my eyes.”
(Image: Yorkshire Television)
Burrows admitted that it “hurt so much” that she “checked for any bruising” before she went to bed.
Malandra then noticed something that “had never been there before” but put it down to “Teddy’s blow” and “gave it the weekend to ease”.
After the swelling persisted, she contacted her doctor who urged her to come in and a week later an ultrasound showed that she had stage-three breast cancer.
(Image: ITV)
Malandra has recently had an operation to remove the tumour and has six months of chemotherapy upcoming, but constantly thanks her dog for discovering the lump in the first place.
The grateful actress noted: “If it were not for Teddy, I would have never known about this and I honestly believe she saved my life. She’s a truly wonderful little character, we have such a strong bond and I’m so grateful for her. I’ve even forgiven her for chewing up the sun lounger!”
Many women have benefited from their dogs having detected cancer within them, as Claire Guest knows all too well.
(Image: Yorkshire Television)
The CEO of Medical Detection Dogs was alerted by her Labrador Daisy after she repeatedly bumped her chest, which turned out to be “a very deep seated breast cancer that wouldn’t have been detected for years” if Daisy hadn’t made the move.
To put it into perspective, Claire compares the dog’s “incredible sense of smell” to “a teaspoon of sugar in two Olympic sized swimming pools”.
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Source: Celebrities - dailystar.co.uk
