Coronation Street’s Lucy-Jo Hudson has opened up about her recent health scare, which left her ‘struggling to breathe’.

The actress, who was in a relationship with I’m A Celebrity’s Alan Halsall, portrayed Katy Harris in the ITV soap and Donna-Marie Quinn in Hollyoaks.

Last year, Lucy revealed that she needed two blood transfusions after being rushed to A&E because her ‘HB levels were that dangerously low’.

She took to Instagram to open up about this shortly after, and confirmed to followers that she has chronic anaemia.

Recently, the star appeared on Good Morning Britain to talk about her latest acting role, which will see her feature in the upcoming Casualty Christmas special.

She also went into more detail about her health worries, explaining she initially thought her symptoms were down to perimenopause.

‘I just thought I wasn’t feeling quite’, she said.

‘I turned 40 and wondered if it was perimenopause. I got tested and had chronic anaemia. I was struggling breathing. It effected my body and brain.
I had a couple of blood transfusions.

The star added: ‘I’m throwing it away casually, but it was quite serious. I had six pints of blood [with the average being around 10 pints].’

The importance of blood will be the focus for the Christmas instalment of Casualty this year.

While Stevie Nash (Elinor Lawless) fights to save lives, Iain Dean (Michael Stevenson) will risk his own to ensure the hospital doesn’t go without blood donations.

Reflecting on the importance of donating blood, along with what he learned while filming this episode, star Barney Walsh – who plays nurse Cam – said: ‘The importance of blood should not be underestimated, because it is the one thing that cannot be replaced and cannot be manufactured. It’s either there or it’s not.

‘From the beginning of the episode, seeing Cam and the particular rigmarole that Cam has to do with the blood from the beginning – out of the fridge into the thing, the clock has to go on, it has to be downstairs by a certain time, has to be on the right shelf at the right time.

‘All of these things you’d expect, OK, but the fact that blood can so easily be either contaminated or the fact that blood can be so easily depleted in an ED or in a resus of one room of one hospital is quite scary and quite staggering.’

He added: ‘It’s something that people won’t think about until they see the episode and they go, “Wow! Is that true?” Because I was on set and I asked the question to one of the medical advisors – is this true that Cam would have stocked the blood on Christmas Eve and by Christmas Day there’s no blood left. And they said absolutely – that blood can go just like that.

‘To learn that, and to be in a position now where we can tell that story to the public and open the public’s eyes on the importance of blood and giving it, it’s an honour to be a part of that story.’