FORMER Emmerdale star Leah Bracknell will trial an experimental medical treatment based on her Chinese heritage in her battle against terminal lung cancer.
Earlier this year she revealed she needed to raise at least £50,000 to fund a journey to Germany to receive care currently not available on the NHS.
Leah’s partner Jez Hughes set up a fundraising page to help pay for specialist treatment at the Hallwang clinic in Germany and kind-hearted fans donated more than £20,000 in less than 24 hours.
Yet after learning she would have to scrabble more money together for the multiple trips needed Leah, who played Zoe Tate in the ITV soap for 16 years, is turning to medication based on her family tree and "extremely Chinese mother".
Writing in her blog she revealed: "I thought by now, I would be writing from Germany but, as a direct result of the campaign and subsequent information people were giving us, I went for a second and third opinion, for treatment pathways and options.
"I am SO glad we did, and it has led to some really positive and unexpected news. It changed the treatment protocol options available to me drastically and has bought that most precious and priceless of gifts – 'Time'.
"I recently received the news that we had all been praying for: the biopsy revealed a match for the EGFR mutation, and I was able to start on targeted biological therapy, here in the UK on the NHS a couple of weeks ago.
She said the experimental drug, which she takes in a pill form, means she is given "a chance, a lifeline, a glimmer of hope."
The new treatment option is based on research from her Chinese mum's genes.
Leah explained the after-effects in her blog, writing: "The drug isn't a cure, as in most people it eventually stops working as the cancer finds a way around the targeted treatment.
"No one knows when this might happen.
"The diagnosis remains the same, but hopefully, this may affect the prognosis, and more importantly give us time to prepare for the next stage of the treatment abroad, which is part of a much longer term plan, to get the cancer into long term remission, which certain types of immunotherapy have shown to do."
Targeted therapy for lung cancer
AS scientists have learned more about how non-small cell lung cancer cells change, they have developed new drugs to specifically target and limit the disease's growth.
Targeted drugs, such as epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitors, are different from standard chemo and are often used for advanced lung cancers, either alone or alongside chemo.
Epidermal growth factor receptor is a protein that is found on the surface of all cells.
It's purpose is to help the cells grow and divide.
But, experts have found some non-small cell lung cancer cells have too much of the protein, which makes the diseased cells grow faster.
However, drugs called epidermal growth factor receptor inhibitors - the drugs Leah is taking - can block the message from the protein that tells these cancer cells to grow.
As a result, the drugs can slow the growth and spread of the cancer.
Information credited to cancer.org.
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Her shock cancer diagnosis came in October when she was rushed to hospital after struggling to walk up a flight of stairs.
She was then given the shock news she was suffering from incurable cancer and branded it a "brutal and bleak" future.
Mum of two Leah was the first lesbian character on a British soap and won Best Exit at the British Soap Awards when she left the show in 2006.
Since then she has been teaching yoga and meditation after moving to Worthing, Sussex.
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