The former Dynasty and Coronation Street actress discusses the two major
health issues she had overcome ahead of her new BBC1 sitcom Boomers
Health scares: Stephanie Beacham
Actress Stephanie Beacham, 67, is best known for dramas Dynasty,
The Colbys, Bad Girls and more recently roles in Corrie and Strictly.
The divorced mum-of-two, who lives with partner Dr Bernie Greenwood in
the US and UK, tells how her life has been blighted by deafness and
bouts of skin cancer...
People assume that when you hear the word ‘cancer’ you automatically
think you’re going to die, but it wasn’t like that for me when I had my first skin cancer diagnosis
in 2009.
Something in me went a bit numb but I wasn’t frightened. You do what
you have to do, make an appointment with the nearest good skin doctor
and get it sorted. And, compared with some of the bravery I’ve witnessed
from friends battling way more serious cancers, I’d feel like a fraud
to exaggerate mine.
What happened with me was that I’d had a small sore spot on my nose
that had been irritating me for a while but I’d dismissed it as nothing
when my partner Bernie started staring at me intently.
I assumed he was about to tell me how lovely I was but he said: “You’ve got skin cancer on your nose.”
A biopsy confirmed that the lesion, about the size of a fingernail,
was a basal cell carcinoma, not the more aggressive malignant melanomas,
which are more likely to be fatal.
I was incredibly grateful it wasn’t anything more serious and after
having it surgically removed under local anaesthetic it scabbed up,
healed and that was it.
It was no big deal but ever since then I’ve piled on the factor 50
sunscreen and I deeply regret the many hours I spent sunbathing in the
past, damaging my skin – my neck and chest are ruined. I’d urge anyone
to stay out of the sun between noon and 4pm. Enjoy the warmth but do it
in the early morning or late afternoon as it’ll just age you.
I split my time between Malibu, California, England and a holiday
place in Spain now, so I’m way more careful and I always wear a hat.
I thought I was clear but in 2011, when I was filming Bad Girls, a
rough, crusty patch appeared in the same spot on my nose. It wasn’t a
mole or a bump so I just covered it in make-up and foolishly ignored it
until once again Bernie realised that some cancerous cells had remained.
I didn’t panic, though. I just thought, ‘This is tiresome, don’t let
your imagination run wild, just get it dealt with,’ which is what I
immediately did.
Dr Aamer Khan on Harley Street used a new procedure called
photodynamic light therapy, which destroys the tumour with a laser
rather than cutting it out, which would have left a scar. I had two
30-minute treatments, which were mildly uncomfortable but had no side
effects and I’ve now been given the all clear.
So, the next time Bernie stares at me intently I can be confident he’s about to tell me how pretty I am.
Unlike the skin cancer, my partial deafness is something that has had a huge impact on my whole life.
My mother Joan had chicken pox when she was pregnant so I was born
with no nerve endings in my right ear. I’m totally deaf in that ear and I
have just 80% hearing in my left ear.
I’ve never heard in stereo and where most people’s hearing is three
dimensional, mine is all on the same plane. Background and foreground
sounds flatten, out so a car coming down the road is as loud as a
person’s voice right next to me.
I was taken to a specialist when I was four. They said, ‘She’s
perfectly intelligent,’ and my mother said very snappily, ‘I realise
that. I know she’s intelligent, she just can’t hear’.
One of the biggest problems was that deafness and stupidity were
often linked together because a speech defect often accompanies the
deafness.
I’ve never had a speech defect but I still got called ‘Deaf Steph’ at
school and because I often didn’t know people were talking to me I’d
walk right past them and they assumed I was snooty.
In my adult life I’ve always struggled with people sitting to my
right at dinner parties as I can’t hear a word and I’ve had to avoid pop
concerts or noisy clubs because of my lack of nerve endings.
Mirrorpix
And because hearing for me – particularly in large groups – is so
tiring I’ve always needed to spend a lot of time alone, so deafness can
be a lonely experience and I’m sure I’d be more sociable with full
hearing.
My hearing hasn’t deteriorated and the advice I’ve always followed is
to take the nerve vitamin B12, never get my ears wet to minimise the
chance of infections and also to avoid loud, potentially damaging
clicking sounds, like boyfriends slamming the phone down on me!
I’ve tried hearing aids, including one about three years ago with a
microphone on my right ear and a Bluetooth receiver on my left so my
left ear could hear what’s on my right side. This did solve my dinner
party problem but the sound was tinny.
I’m hoping a new Specsavers one tuned specifically to my individual
hearing will be more successful and I’ll continue to use my invaluable
two hearing dogs, who keep me well protected and make me feel much more
secure as they alert me to so many noises I’d never hear.
They’ll bark if the phone goes or the washing machine has finished. They’re my best friends.
As for my future health, I fully intend to age naturally without
cosmetic surgery and there’s nothing that can be done about my saggy
neck, apart from a bulldog clip. I’m convinced mental and physical
flexibility is the secret to staying young and yoga provides that for
me.
I’m also aware that you become what you eat so I’ll continue to steer clear of fizzy drinks and too much sugar or salt.
When I find myself feeling I should have done better at this or that I
think, ‘Stop knocking yourself, Steph. For a deaf girl you didn’t do
badly.’
- Stephanie Beacham stars in the new BBC1 comedy Boomers, which starts on Friday, August 15.
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