Coronation Street legend Liz Dawn faces new health scare as she is forced to miss grandson’s wedding for major operation
The Vera Duckworth actress was too poorly to fly to the nuptials in Italy as she battles an ongoing heart condition
LEGENDARY Coronation Street actress Liz Dawn has been forced to miss her grandson's Italian wedding as she faces a new health scare and major operation.
The 77-year-old - who played Vera Duckworth on the Cobbles for 34 years until 2008 - suffers from the incurable lung disease emphysema, but revealed to she is due to go under the knife for an ongoing heart condition.
Liz is so poorly, doctors stopped her from attending her grandson Thomas Borso's wedding in Italy on Friday.
The 29-year-old married Alice Coughlin, 27, who is the niece of current Coronation Street actress Debbie Rush, who plays Anna Windass.
The ceremony took place in the Alpine town of Bassano del Grappa, but Liz revealed it was too risky for her to fly out for the big day.
She told the publication: "Naturally I am very disappointed not to be there with them. They make such a lovely couple, it’s every grandmother’s dream and Bassano is such a lovely setting.
“But to get there was just too difficult, it would have meant a flight to Venice, accessing and exiting the plane in a wheelchair and then a car journey from the airport to Bassano.
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“I felt it would be too much to cope with in my condition at the moment.
“But I was there with them in spirit and we will throw a big party for them when they return from honeymoon.”
Liz is set to go under the knife this week and hopes the surgery will give her a new lease of life.
She added: "At the moment I’ve got no energy but once the operation is done I will be looking forward to being as back to my normal self and getting my energy back.
“I’m in very good hands, and want to thank everyone at the hospital."
Liz was diagnosed with emphysema in 2004 after years of heavy smoking, having started when she was just 14, and doctors previously told the actress she had just a third of her lungs still working.
In 2013 she had a pacemaker fitted after she suffered a heart attack while on holiday in Spain.
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