Coronation Street's Beverley Callard having 'big operation' amid cancer battle
Former Coronation Street star Beverley Callard will undergo a "big operation" on Friday (20.02.26) as part of her treatment for early-stage breast cancer.
Beverley Callard is set to undergo a "big operation" amid her early-stage breast cancer battle.
The Coronation Street alum - who received her heartbreaking diagnosis 20 minutes before shooting her first scenes in Dublin-based soap Fair City - felt "positive and strong" ahead of getting her lymph nodes and lymph glands tested for cancer on February 11.
And as a precaution to ensure the cancer does not spread, Beverley - best known for playing icon Liz McDonald on the ITV soap from 1989 until 2020 - will have two of her lymph nodes removed during an operation on Friday (20.02.26).
In the actress' latest health update video - shared to Instagram on Wednesday (18.02.26) - she said: "I went to the hospital this morning, and they wanted to talk to me about the lymph nodes and lymph glands.
"They're pretty sure that it's not in the lymph nodes, but they're gonna take two out on Friday when I have the operation to make sure.
"So it's quite a big operation I'm having, but I trust them completely."
Beverley, 68, then praised the staff at the Norfolk and Norwich University Hospital - which is run by the National Health Service (NHS) - for being "truly amazing" to her and every other patient.
The I'm A Celebrity... Get Me Out Of Here! 2020 campmate also shared that she is cleaning her house non-stop to take her mind off having the operation on Friday.
Beverley said: "So I've got tomorrow to get through. The waiting is the worst bit, I have to tell you. The house is so clean because I can't stop and think about things.
"So one more day tomorrow, and then it's the operation. But I'm feeling strong and positive.
"And let me know if you're going through it, and how you're feeling. Truly, your stories mean a great deal to me."
As well as feeling "scared" about the operation, Beverley admitted how she was "forcing myself to eat" amid stress in her emotional February 15 health update video.
In the same upload, the TV legend revealed she had a "wonderful weekend" with her daughter Rebecca, who reminded Beverley that she is "as hard as nails", and "can cope with anything".
On February 6, Beverley announced her breast cancer diagnosis during an appearance on The Late Late Show.
She told 55-year-old host Patrick Kielty: "It's difficult to know where to start.
"I knew I was coming over here for four weeks, and then I'd have a couple of weeks back in the UK, and then back here - for a long time
"I'd had some tests just before I left the UK and literally 15 to 20 minutes before [her first scene] I was in my dressing room at Fair City, getting ready to go on, and I was quite nervous and thinking, 'I hope everybody thinks I'm all right, whatever.'
"And my consultant rang me and said, 'You've got to come back to the UK.' I said, 'Well, I can't possibly, you know, I've just taken a new job, I'm away for a month.'
"I was diagnosed with breast cancer."
Beverley stressed in her interview with Patrick that she is doing well and is relieved that doctors caught the disease in its early stages.
She said: "I'm fine. I'm absolutely fine. My head was a bit mashed for the first few days. It's very early stages, and I'm along with, you know, thousands of other women as well.
"It's early stages. I travel back to the UK tomorrow (07.02.26), just for a couple of weeks. They're going to test lymph nodes and lymph glands and all that."
Beverley is determined not to let her health ordeal stop her from playing Lily, the long-lost mum of Carrigstown resident Gwen, played by co-star Emily Lamey, in Fair City.
Beverley said: "I need an operation and some radiotherapy, and then I'm coming back to Fair City, so I will be back in just a few weeks."
