Overview
- Tracy Shaw, the former Coronation Street actress, began a chemotherapy-first treatment after tests found her cancer is HER2-positive, a result that changed her care from immediate surgery to a multi-month drug course.
- She received her first chemotherapy injection near the end of May and said the drug can affect the heart, so doctors have scheduled regular cardiac scans to monitor for cardiotoxicity.
- Shaw has reported pronounced side effects between sessions, including oral thrush, loss of appetite, chapped lips, flu-like breathing symptoms and low immunity that has prompted her to limit social contact.
- On Thursday she posted photos with a shaved head and has been openly documenting her journey online while accepting practical support, donating her hair to the Little Princess Trust and completing recent fundraising for Breast Cancer Now.
- Clinically the plan is to finish chemotherapy to shrink the tumours, then perform surgery to remove lumps and lymph nodes with further treatment decided by pathology, and HER2-targeted therapy is commonly used because this subtype tends to grow faster.