Ex-Emmerdale actress Malandra Burrows, who played Kathy Glover, diagnosed with breast cancer

Former Emmerdale actress Malandra Burrows is receiving treatment for breast cancer, she has revealed.

The 56-year-old, who played Kathy Glover in the Yorkshire soap, had a stage three tumour removed and is facing six months of chemotherapy after her diagnosis in February.

But she told OK! magazine she was facing the disease head on.

"I’ve kind of gone into combat mode," she said.

"If I look back, I’ve given it everything I can and that’s all I can do. I hate to say it, but when it’s your life at stake you’re prepared to do everything to get through. That’s helped me focus."

The actress was diagnosed in after she discovered a lump while exercising.

She said a consultant first told her it was cyst, but a follow-up scan and ultrasound revealed that it was cancerous.

Malandra said she had a feeling that she was about to hear the worst, when she was greeted by a Macmillan nurse at hospital.

"She nearly broke down telling me, but I just went, ‘Don’t be daft! We’ll get through it and I’m going to ring that bell [to celebrate the end of treatment]," she said.

Kathy Glover

Malandra Burrows played Kathy Glover – one of Emmerdale's longest running characters – from 1985 to 2001.

She briefly reprised the role in 2005, returning for the funeral of Seth Armstrong.

During her time on the show Kathy was married three times and dumped at the alter.

Her storylines included her being kidnapped, knocked down by a horse and trapped in wreckage after a bus crash.

A former contestant on ITV's I'm a Celebrity Get Me Out of Here, Malandra said she had not cried about her diagnosis as she had time to prepare herself for the news, but her body did "involuntarily had a breakdown."

"I didn’t feel like I was breaking down, but I just couldn’t eat or do anything. There was something in the back of my mind that knew what was going on inside my body," she said.

And she urged others experiencing possible symptoms to seek help as soon as possible.

"Regardless of age, if something seems odd, speak to your GP," she said.