Ex Coronation Street star Lisa George has opened up about her fears of returning to the pantomime stage with her eye condition.
Last year, the 51-year-old was diagnosed with NAION – Non-arteritic anterior ischemic optic neuropathy – a little-known condition, where a loss of blood flow and oxygen delivery to the optic nerve causes sudden and painless vision loss in one eye.
Lisa feared she’d never be able to act again when she became partially blind in one eye and left with peripheral vision in the other.
Since leaving her role as Beth Tinker in Coronation Street, however, she has gone back to her roots in the pantomime world but admits it’s come with fear and help from her team.
Ahead of taking on the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella, the actress called for a meeting about her needs, in particular, help with coming off stage in the dark.
She shared: “I just thought, ‘I’m never going to be able to do this, I won’t be able to see a thing’. I have spoken to the director about it, and he was like, ‘You won’t be in the dark alone, there will be someone to help you’.
“That, deep down, was my big fear. It’s still a subconscious fear, let’s just say that.
“They’re [the team] brilliant, they were like, ‘Don’t worry at all, there will always be someone there for you’.”
Recalling the time her eyesight began to deteriorate, Lisa admits she feared the worst and experienced depression.
“When my first eye went, I was really depressed, I had my license taken off me,” she shared. “And, I was really depressed thinking, ‘Oh my god I’m not going to be able to drive’.
“I had an eye patch after about three months and I was in a lot of pain, my right eye was my worse, where I’ve got more vision damage.
“I was really like, ‘Oh my god what’s going to happen?’ but they were like, ‘You can drive with one good eye you’ll be fine’.”
Lisa has since adapted to the change and refuses to let it get her down.
“It’s not the best, and like I say, hopefully I won’t go blind with a bit of luck,” she shared.
“I just wanted to be able to get back to my roots working in the theatre and doing other things and trying to have those opportunities before I may not be able to work as an actress.”
Catch Lisa playing the Fairy Godmother in Cinderella at Wyvern Theatre in Swindon from December 7 to January 5.