EastEnders actress Cheryl Fergison has recalled the terrifying moment she suffered a stroke.
The actress, 60, known for her role as Heather Trott in the soap, revealed earlier this month that she’d been rushed to hospital in “one of the lowest times in [her] life”.
“One of the hardest things is to process what it does to you. One minute you’re walking, talking, going to the shops; the next your world is rocked. It’s shocking,” she told The Mirror.
During an appearance on This Morning today (Friday 29 August), Cheryl opened up to Rylan Clark and Josie Gibson about how frightening the moment in May was.
She recalled going for a walk with her son during the day, and felt a headache coming on when she returned home, but having never experienced a migraine before, wasn’t sure what it was.
“I went to bed, couldn’t settle, and had to go for a pee in the night because I’m of that age now. I got up to go and basically couldn’t balance, nearly fell over, couldn’t feel the right hand side of me.”
Her son phoned the ambulance after fearing she’d had a stroke, with Heather going on to thank the medical professionals in the NHS for looking after her.
“They’re more than angels,” she said. “I saw them be amazing and had to deal with so much.”
She went on: “I couldn’t walk when I was in there, couldn’t do a lot of things, I could talk.”
Cheryl said she “counted her blessings” and was “humbled” after her health scare.
She continued: “I’m one of those people, I don’t say if my cup is half empty or half full, I’m just happy to have a cup.”
Talking about her positive outlook now despite everything she’s been through,, she said: “When it happened, processing this [took a lot]. In our industry, I had jobs to go to, I was meant to fly out and do things. It was a money situation, but it all went.
“I was quite depressed for a couple of weeks, I thought my life was over, what is happening, how do I recover from this? But like I said, I had amazing support around me.”
Cheryl has previously been open about the struggles she’s faced in recent years, including being left “penniless” after discovering her husband was having an affair.
Ahead of her new memoir being released in which she talks about the blows she’s been dealt including being diagnosed with womb cancer in 2015 and undergoing a hysterectomy, Cheryl recently told The Mirror: “Material things don’t matter; they can be lost or broken, but memories are everything. Friends, family and laughter – that’s all that matters.
