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View Full Version : Corrie's Liz Dawn (Vera Duckworth) battling "incurable" lung disease



Richie_lecturer
18-09-2005, 03:12
Developing story here (http://www.sundaymirror.co.uk/news/news/tm_objectid=16143801%26method=full%26siteid=62484% 26headline=my%2dfight%2dfor%2dlife%2d-name_page.html).

Very sad news. Vera is a legend. I just hope Liz gets all the treatment available to her at this terrible time. My sympathies to her and her family. :crying:

alan45
18-09-2005, 11:01
Here is the article from the Mirror

CORRIE LIZ: SHE NEEDS OXYGEN ON STREET SET
By Ben Todd, Showbiz Editor And Alan Rimmer
CORONATION Street legend Liz Dawn is battling an incurable lung disease.

Liz, 65, who plays TV's most famous busybody Vera Duckworth, has been diagnosed with chronic emphysema.

It has left the £200,000-a-year star so breathless that at times she has had to be given oxygen on the Manchester set of the soap.

The condition leaves the lungs inflamed and can cause heart failure. Heavy smokers are the most likely victims.

Liz - who smoked 30 cigarettes a day for more than 40 years until a cancer scare - has been fighting the disease for 18 months.

Last night she told the Sunday Mirror: "I'm doing really well."




She paid tribute to her doctor, saying: "I'm just grateful that I have found a fantastic specialist."


Liz, who has starred as "Our Vera" in Corrie for more than 30 years, is battling the disease supported by her husband Don Ibbertson and her four children.


Close friends and fellow cast members, including Bill Tarmey, who plays screen husband Jack, have also been unflinching in their support.


Liz, whose parents died of cancer, is determined to carry on working.


She said her doctor had come up with a medication that allows her to continue to star in Corrie.


"He's worked out a medication that means I can carry on doing what I love - which is being a mum and a grandma and working on Coronation Street." A friend added: "Liz has been at a really low ebb. It has been hard going and at times she has feared the worst.


"But recently she has found a specialist who has sorted out her medication. That has made her far happier.


"She knows that emphysema can kill and that it is a daily battle she has to confront " A Corrie spokeswoman said: "Liz is a highly valued and popular member of the cast. She continues to work as hard as ever.


"She loves her job and throughout her health problems she has wanted to carry on working."


In the 1980s, TV viewers barely saw Liz's character Vera without a cigarette in her mouth.


Her topsy-turvy marriage to Jack made them national favourites as they tried to cope with the antics of their tearaway son Terry.


But Liz suffered a health scare 10 years ago when she started coughing up blood at home and thought she was going to die.


She admitted at the time: "I'm a smoker and I really thought I had cancer. I've never felt such terrible fear. I've tried to give up five times in the last five years, but always failed because I love smoking so much.


"I know it is bad for my health. My dad smoked Woodbines and lung cancer killed him at 70."


Liz then told of her "overwhelming relief" when doctors ended her nightmare by telling her she did not have cancer, but was suffering from stomach ulcers.


The experience made the actress determined to help cancer sufferers. She later raised £1million for a breast cancer unit at St James's hospital in her home city of Leeds.


In an interview four years ago, she told how the death of her beloved mother Annie, who died of cancer in 1975, made her realise just how fragile life was.


She said: "I'd never known death in the family and it was devastating to lose my mum. She was only 57, a wonderful woman who worked all her life in a tailoring factory. She always amazed me by giving so much and caring for other people.


"When she died it made me realise I wanted to do everything I can to help cancer charities."


She added: "I'd hate to end up in a hospital bed knowing I'm going to die and wishing I'd done more.


"Now I can lie in that hospital bed and think, 'Thank God I've done everything I possibly could'."


Liz joined the cast of Coronation Street in 1974. In 2000 she was chosen as Lady Mayoress of Leeds. She was also awarded an MBE.


She first married at the age of 18 but divorced in 1959. Liz then met electrician Don. They married in January 1965 and live in a bungalow outside Manchester.

Debs
18-09-2005, 14:36
poor liz, Hope she starts to feel a bit better soon

eastenders mad
18-09-2005, 16:34
i hope she is going to be ok soon. what would Jack do without Vera lol

hazey
18-09-2005, 17:19
Poor Liz such sad news that she has emphysema, My father had this complaint, but got it though lead in paint (was a decorator) and I watched as my dad got thinner and thinner and then passed away, My heart goes out to her and her family.

eastenderfan_91
18-09-2005, 18:19
she is a fantastic person and i personally think she is amazing my nan and grandad died of cancer and it was horrible but i hope they can help her and ease the pain x

feelingyellow
18-09-2005, 19:06
i give my best wishes to liz and her family, hope she gets better soon!