A former soap star has given a glimpse into a terrifying ordeal she experienced earlier this year. Cheryl Fergison, who played Heather Trott on BBC's EastEnders, has opened up about her health woes and revealed she'd suffered a life-changing stroke. The 59-year-old was on the long-running soap from 2007 until 2012, but has taken on a number of new ventures after failing to secure acting work. She most recently promoted tickets to an event named Cheryl's Special £15 Weekend, and also has been selling original EastEnders scripts to make money. Cheryl also admitted last year that she had to attend a food bank in order to make ends meet.
Speaking to The Mirror about her health, she said: "When I got up in the night to go to the bathroom, my balance completely went and I had to stop myself from falling over. My whole right side felt numb, heavy, and tingly."
After contacting her son Alex, Cheryl was then rushed to the hospital in Blackpool where doctors confirmed that she had suffered a stroke.
She reflected: "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."
Cheryl remembered: "I have had to retrain my brain. I couldn't even pick up a penny at first. You lose the ability to coordinate your hands, to walk properly, your balance is gone.
"It's frustrating and makes you angry. But I've started to recover - I am coming on in leaps and bounds now."
Last year, Cheryl was encouraged by Citizens Advice staff to attend a food bank, to which she said: “One of the hardest things I’ve had to do. I found it so difficult to be that vulnerable.”
“I sat there and cried and cried. It was shameful. How could I have been on EastEnders? How could I have been earning that much money and now I am here?”
The troubled actress has explained numerous times in candid videos that she's struggled to make ends meet. In one Instagram post, she said: "What I want to put out is the terrible misconception by the general public that we are all rich.
"That is far beyond the truth. I've been out of EastEnders for nearly 13 years, in fact more than that - I left in 2012.
"I've done jobs in between and I've done panto, I'm doing it this year but the jobs are kind of like... they're not continuous, they're not like being in a soap all the time."
