Eternal and Hollyoaks star Kelle Bryan has told how she was left unable to speak after being struck with a horror illness.
The 44-year-old mother-of-two was diagnosed with auto-immune disease lupus in 1999 and suffered a stroke in 2016, stripping her of her ability to talk.
At that time Hollyoaks bosses had already offered her a part, but the terrifying condition left her with no choice but to turn it down.
Thankfully, they waited and she was finally well enough to join the Channel 4 soap as Martine Deveraux in September last year.
"It's amazing to have come through that journey, the loss of speech and ability to do so many things for myself. It's so debilitating," she told ITV's Loose Women.
She has to undergo infusion therapy every six months to keep the symptoms at bay and said that for now she is well.
Bryan had never even heard of the life-threatening blood disease before she was diagnosed with lupus in 1998.
Following a legal battle after being sacked from Eternal by fax, the stressful moment in Kelle's life - which also coincided with her parents' divorce - led to her getting lupus.
"Lupus is stress related," Kelle previously said.
Lupus is a blood disease that affects the white blood cells - we've all got white blood cells that fight off infection - but with With Lupus sufferers, those white blood cells fight against their own body.
"For me I had liver and kidney damage, arthritis symptoms, hair loss, mouth ulcers, sores on my face, arms and all down my body and I didn't heal.
"It all coincided when I got sacked from Eternal."
The mother-of-two - who spent 10 days in hospital while doctors did blood tests, biopsies, MRI scans and horrendous neurological tests - then revealed that she is afraid that her kids could make her seriously ill at any point.
“Sometimes I can’t touch them at all," she said. "I'm afraid that they'll bring more illnesses from nursery."
