The soap star shared the health update live on Lorraine Kelly's ITV chat show10:50, 11 Jun 2026Lorraine: Tracy Shaw speaks about living with breast cancer Tracy Shaw has shared a new cancer update as she admitted, “It’s not easy.”‌The 52-year-old, best known for portraying Maxine Peacock in Coronation Street between 1995 and 2003, previously revealed that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer before undergoing chemotherapy.‌Just days after breaking down in tears and opening up about the impact of her treatment, the actress appeared on ITV’s Lorraine as she shared an update with fans and admitted: “It’s not been easy”.‌Speaking to host Lorraine Kelly, she said: “I'm doing okay today, but it isn't an easy path. I'm only sharing it (cancer battle) because there are millions, millions of ladies and gentlemen who are going through the same thing, and it's just not a very nice part of the disease, chemo, really.”The soap star revealed that she had a horrible reaction to the first dose of chemotherapy as she explained: “First dose, they don't really know how your body's going to react, so it's a real big tester.‌"It's like cheek pox - I had a reaction rather than having a thrush all over me. So you think you're out of the woods of the chemo and then the next minute…it's just not pleasant.”Opening up on the heartbreaking moment she found out about her diagnosis, she said: “Because it was underneath my breast and it wasn't on the breast itself."I thought, ‘well, it can't be,’ so I postponed it, just thinking it'll be okay, but actually, this lump was kind of on the top of my rib.‌“So I went to the doctor's, and they were more concerned about the cyst because I was on HRT, so the HRT was feeding the cancer - it doesn't cause it, but it was feeding it.”She added: “So the cysts were tight and sore, so that's the reason I went. It wasn't really necessarily because of the lump, and the mammogram discovered the lump.”‌The star admitted that her life is not “normal” anymore following her diagnosis, but said that she has been flooded with support from not only her loyal followers but her sons Louis and Luca Alexander, whom she shares with former partner, Ashley Poundall.She said, “The whole family and all the people who are following and messaging at the moment. There are mothers with sons, younger sons, sons my age, and the family members are messaging.“Everyone is affected, and sometimes just by me sharing about what the effects are, they understand how that person might be feeling, because you don't know.”Article continues belowTracy added: “The survivors are just amazing, the ones who are really reaching out and giving me advice and tips. Unless you've been there, you don't really know just how awful it really feels, because there's nothing normal about your life anymore when you go through chemo.”Lorraine airs weekdays from 9:30am on ITV1 and ITVX.