Emmerdale cast ALL donate to help actress Leah Bracknell raise £50,000 for her lung cancer treatment
Her co-star John Middleton revealed that everyone had chipped in
EMMERDALE’s cast all had a whip-round to help actress Leah Bracknell raise £50,000 for radical lung cancer treatment.
Pals who worked with Leah, who played Zoe Tate on the soap for 16 years, logged on to her online appeal to fund a trip to a German specialist clinic.
And even current members of the show who didn’t appear during the same time made a donation.
The 52-year-old non-smoker is now set to undergo the surgery that isn’t available on the NHS after reaching the target – just five weeks after first being diagnosed with the terminal condition.
John Middleton, who has played vicar Ashley Thomas for 20 years, said: “I’ve written to her. It’s awful news but she’s a person full of courage.
“She’s going for treatment in Germany and hopefully that will yield excellent results. It was an awful, awful shock. I think every one of us has contributed to it [the online fund page].
“We reached out individually. The moment she launched it I thought she’ll easily surpass that total in a matter of days and indeed she did.
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“She is a very popular person and deservedly so. She’s a beautiful person in looks and who she is. It seems doubly tragic when something like that happens to someone like her.
“It’s tragic for anyone- that’s nature. I said to her in my letter I’m astounded by your fortitude in the face of it all.”
The Sun revealed last week how Leah was given the grim news after being rushed to hospital last month for an emergency operation.
Leah, whose real name is Alison, started the gofundme page with partner Jez Hughes so she could attend the private Hallwang clinic in Germany. Its cutting-edge treatments have seen cancers diagnosed as incurable put into remission.
Leah wrote: “I want to thank everyone from the bottom of my heart for all the donations, the messages of encouragement and for sharing the campaign.
“I feel extremely blessed. We did not expect to raise anywhere near that amount.”
Zoe Tate made television history as the first lesbian character in a British soap and Leah’s performance won Best Exit at the British Soap Awards in 2006.
She has taught yoga and meditation after moving to Worthing, West Sussex.
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