Black Widow
10-05-2008, 05:09 PM
FORMER EastEnders star Wendy Richard said today she was dying of cancer.
The 65-year-old actress actress also announced that she would marry her long-term partner.
She said she had written her will and planned her funeral after being diagnosed in January with an aggressive form of the disease that has attacked her kidney and spread to her bones.
The star, who played Pauline Fowler in the BBC1 soap opera, has twice been diagnosed with breast cancer.
She said: “I went for my usual annual check-up and they found that some cancer cells had returned in my left armpit.”
The actress, who rose to fame playing Miss Brahms in Are You Being Served?, explained that despite being treated for the cancer it had spread through her body.
She added: “The drugs I was given to help had an adverse effect. If anything, they did more damage than good so my health has really deteriorated. Now I have a cancerous growth on my right kidney and the cancer has spread to my bones.
“Twice I’ve had breast cancer but this is different. It’s more aggressive this time, unfortunately, and has spread to the top of my spine and left ribs.”
She added: “My oncologist said I’ve got several useful years ahead of me but since then it’s got worse.”
Ms Richard will marry her partner, John Burns, before starting chemotherapy treatment on October 13.
She was awarded the MBE for services to television in 2000.
The Sun
The 65-year-old actress actress also announced that she would marry her long-term partner.
She said she had written her will and planned her funeral after being diagnosed in January with an aggressive form of the disease that has attacked her kidney and spread to her bones.
The star, who played Pauline Fowler in the BBC1 soap opera, has twice been diagnosed with breast cancer.
She said: “I went for my usual annual check-up and they found that some cancer cells had returned in my left armpit.”
The actress, who rose to fame playing Miss Brahms in Are You Being Served?, explained that despite being treated for the cancer it had spread through her body.
She added: “The drugs I was given to help had an adverse effect. If anything, they did more damage than good so my health has really deteriorated. Now I have a cancerous growth on my right kidney and the cancer has spread to my bones.
“Twice I’ve had breast cancer but this is different. It’s more aggressive this time, unfortunately, and has spread to the top of my spine and left ribs.”
She added: “My oncologist said I’ve got several useful years ahead of me but since then it’s got worse.”
Ms Richard will marry her partner, John Burns, before starting chemotherapy treatment on October 13.
She was awarded the MBE for services to television in 2000.
The Sun