ITV Emmerdale: On and off-screen life of Malandra Burrows as she battles cancer

Earlier this week Malandra Burrows revealed her heartbreak at being given a breast cancer diagnosis. The former Emmerdale actress was diagnosed in February after finding a lump a month earlier.

However, Malandra, 56, is now feeling positive after having a stage three tumour removed from her left breast. "You may think you’re super healthy, but that little 'C' word can still get you," she told OK! Magazine. "I just happened to catch myself [while exercising] and thought, 'Good grief, what’s that?'"

At first she didn’t think it was anything to worry about but a few days later the lump hadn't gone away and so she called her GP. "A week later I was at the hospital and the first consultant told me it was a cyst. He said, ‘I won’t be seeing you again.’ The relief I felt," Malandra recalls.

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However, a follow up scan and ultrasound showed something that was a lot more sinister and she was invited to the hospital for another appointment and told to 'bring someone with her'. "I’d already galvanised myself before hearing the news, so I’ve never cried about it," she said. "In that week my body involuntarily had a breakdown. I didn’t feel like I was breaking down, but I just couldn’t eat or do anything. There was something in the back of my mind that knew what was going on inside my body."

Now she’s up for the fight as over the next six months Malandra will undergo a course of chemotherapy. "I’ve kind of gone into combat mode. If I look back, I’ve given it everything I can and that’s all I can do. I hate to say it, but when it’s your life at stake you’re prepared to do everything to get through. That’s helped me focus."

Fans will probably