Former Coronation Street star Lisa George, who played Beth Tinker on the ITV soap, has said she had to “push and push” doctors to treat her after she waws taken to hospital
Former Coronation Street star Lisa George had to “push” doctors to treat her after she was taken to hospital.
The actress, who played knicker stitcher Beth Tinker, on the ITV soap for over a decade, had been suffering from low iron reserves, which typically causes one to experience tiredness, weakness, breathlessness, pale skin and heart palpitations, and claimed that she had to hassle medics to be taken seriously.
Taking to Instagram, she told fans: “Finally having the first of my iron infusions. I have pushed and pushed for this after showing anaemia and low iron and haemoglobin levels. You have to shout the loudest to get anywhere.” She posted the caption alongside a candid photo showing herself on a drip.
It comes after Lisa revealed she was diagnosed with a medical condition which has left her partially blind in one eye and without peripheral vision in her other. She received a diagnosis of NAION (non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy) after years of searching for answers since first experiencing sight loss in 2016, with a recurrence in 2022.
“I feel like my eyes have stabilised at the moment. I can see distances absolutely fine, but I can’t see writing. All writing and numbers are really blurred, so I need glasses for reading, and for driving I have varifocals, so I can see the SatNav,” she explained last year.
“I don’t like doing night driving because I have blind spots, but I think that’s also an age thing! If we were filming Corrie scenes on the pavement in the dark, I’d ask to be on the inside of the pavement because I couldn’t see the edge of the kerb.”
Lisa admitted she struggled at first with referring to herself as visually impaired.
“To be honest, I don’t mention it that often. When I was on Coronation Street, the only reason many people knew was because my script was in font size 16 so they could probably see it from the other side of the set! I’m classed as “visually impaired” now on my Spotlight CV, and that did make me wonder if people maybe wouldn’t want to cast me. But there is better access now for people with all sorts of disabilities so I don’t let it worry me,” she explained.
“You know, I really don’t want my eyes to deteriorate any more. When it first happened, one of my fears was, ‘How am I going to work in a theatre if the stage is dark?’ But I did panto last year and the crew and cast were amazing and made things easy for me.”
During her time on the cobbles, Beth was a doting mother to PC Craig Tinker (Colson Smith) and eventually married Kirk Sutherland (Andy Whyment) but it all ended in heartbreak when she tried and failed to outsmart corrupt detective Kit Green, and she had to leave her marriage and her son behind. Tragically, shortly after she departed the cobbles for good, Craig was killed in the line of duty.
Before landing her signature role, Lisa appeared in small roles on Coronation Streeet and Emmerdale. She was also seen in Casualty, Holby City and appeared opposite EastEnders star Michelle Collins in an adaptation of Jacqueline Wilson’s The Illustrated Mum. In 2020, she took part in Dancing on Ice and finished in fifth place.
This year, she will star in a pantomime version of Jack and the Beanstalk in Blackpool, and also features in the upcoming festive film The Santa Express oppsite fellow former Corrie star Victoria Ekanoye and Strictly Come Dancing’s Toyah Willcox.
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