Leah Bracknell has already defied the odds and lived longer than expected following her stage four lung cancer diagnosis in 2016. But now the former star is hoping for an "impossible miracle" to cure her cancer altogether. The 55-year-old actress admitted that she remained hopeful after entering into an immunotherapy clinical trial, which she says has helped her stay pain free.
"People think, 'Oh, she's crazy', but I believe in thinking outside the box. Medical science is an amazing thing and it is keeping me alive, but it has limitations because it is to do with the logical mind," Leah told The Mirror. "But things we call miracles, things we don’t understand, happen all the time, they happen outside the realms of logic and scientific data. Nobody knows why they happen, but it is possible for the impossible to happen. I still hope I could get my impossible miracle."
Leah was diagnosed in 2016
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Since her diagnosis, Leah has tried numerous tactics to keep alive and ease her pain - including using cannabis oil which she made herself. She continued: "I’m running out of time, I’m terminal and I’m doing all I can to prolong that and I’ve also broken the law. I’ve made myself into a criminal because I used cannabis. I’m not going to do what I’m told – and that includes dying when you say I’m going to die, that includes accepting your prognosis, that includes people telling me what medicines I should or shouldn’t take."
Leah has already defied the odds against her
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When Leah – who played Zoe Tate in Emmerdale between 1989 and 2005 – was first diagnosed after a hospital check-up related to her heart, she was told that she'd have just eight months to live. She has now exceeded doctors' expectations by over 24 months. Previously opening up about the diagnosis, she told Loose Women: "I don’t wake up every morning feeling fearful, I wake up feeling grateful and excited about life."
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