By Janine Yaqoob Jessica Sansome
EastEnders star Heather Peace has said there was ‘no processing’ of her devastating cancer diagnosis, which came after her wife was also told she had the disease. The actress, who is much loved for playing Eve Panesar-Unwin in the BBC One soap, shared publicly her breast cancer diagnosis in May. Sharing a lengthy post on Instagram having already undergone treatment, Heather said she had “been on quite a road for many months now”. “I was diagnosed with breast cancer at the beginning of October. Since then I鈥檝e undergone surgery and recovery over the Christmas period and today my chemotherapy journey ended. To conclude 鈥 I鈥檝e just picked up my medal,” she said at the time. Now, as she鈥檚 about to start radiotherapy, Heather tells how partner Ellie Dickinson had got the same news earlier in the year. “Her breast cancer was a smaller, aggressive lump, so she had a lumpectomy and then radiotherapy,” she said, reports the Mirror. “Of course then I come along with my 12 cm lump, absolutely ginormous, and mastectomy, chemotherapy, just about to go into radiotherapy. She鈥檚 like 鈥楨ven that you have to do bigger鈥. It鈥檚 like 鈥楬old my beer鈥.” Parents to Annie, 10, and eight-year-old twins Jesse and Lola, the news was devastating to the pair. 鈥淭here was no processing,鈥 admits Heather. Finding her own lump after noticing a change in her nipple, Heather admits she tried putting off getting checked because of her EastEnders filming schedule. Encouraged by wife Ellie to go straight away, they were shocked to discover Heather had breast cancer within just three hours of seeing a doctor. “I swear everybody looked at me, it might be my imagination, but I felt like a dead woman walking,” admitted Heather. “I honestly did because it was so big and so quick that they told us and the seriousness and gravity with which I was told.” The bombshell news came just as Heather was about to begin filming big New Year scenes which saw Eve marry Suki Panesar, played by Balvinder Sopal, in a historic lesbian wedding. Still reeling from her diagnosis, Heather called her bosses to tell them, who told her she didn鈥檛 need to come in. But Heather was determined to film the scenes, to give a “full stop” to the story, fearing she would die. Heather, who previously appeared in London鈥檚 Burning and Waterloo Road breathed a sigh of relief when scans showed her cancer hadn鈥檛 spread but she would have to undergo major surgery and aggressive chemotherapy. On November 29 she had a left breast mastectomy and immediate reconstruction. While undergoing intense chemo treatment, Heather would travel from her home in Brighton to Elstree in Hertfordshire as she continued to film at least two days a week throughout the treatment, determined to keep working, but admitting she could be 鈥渟haky鈥. But she praised the team for their support throughout her terrifying health ordeal. “Everyone knew,” Heather told Gaby Roslin on her Reasons To Be Joyful podcast. 鈥淚 put out a post on our little group WhatsApp and I just felt absolutely enveloped and protected and looked after.鈥 Having just finished her chemotherapy and about to start on radiotherapy, Heather is looking ahead to a future she thought might be snatched away. “I need to live for the day,” she vowed. “We鈥檝e got our three kids. We鈥檙e going away on a holiday for two weeks. They鈥檙e at that golden age. The twins Jesse and Lola are eight, Annie is 10. “The five of us are going away. We鈥檙e going on holiday for two weeks and that鈥檚 been the thing that I鈥檝e held on to since February, through this whole chemo journey. I just want to enjoy them and try and savour every second.”