Former Eastenders star has revealed she “scalded herself with boiling water every day” following her cancer diagnosis.
Cheryl Fergison, who played Heather Trott in the BBC soap, has opened up about her terrifying health scare.
The actress appeared on the show from 2007 until 2012 and was diagnosed with cancer in 2015.
The 58-year-old who was diagnosed with stage two womb cancer nearly a decade ago, described it as a “horrendous time.”
Deciding to take matters into her own hands after hearing medics describe “washing” away cancer cells, Cheryl repeatedly covered herself in boiling water in an attempt to remove cancerous cells.
Cheryl explained to the Daily Mirror: “In my head, I thought I still had cancer cells in me. Doctors had talked about having done a ‘washing’ procedure as part of the surgery so I thought right, ‘I’ll wash myself, I’ll wash these cells away.'”
“So every day, sometimes twice a day, I would get a shower head and get the water at its hottest setting – as much as I could bear.”
“It was like an addiction. I was doing this for years. It became a routine. I told nobody except my husband Yass and he would try to stop me. He was so supportive – but it was in my head.”
The actress received her diagnosis after attending a routine smear test, however, the first time she went her results came back clear.
However, after she started experiencing back pain and spotting blood she knew something wasn’t right.
The actress went to her GP with her concerns and got referred for tests and a biopsy at a local hospital in Kent.
Four months later, Cheryl received the heartbreaking news that she had stage two womb cancer.
The mother-of-one described hearing the doctor’s diagnosis as an “out-of-body experience.”
