Sherrie Hewson fears she will never see her terminally ill brother again due to the coronavirus pandemic.
The 69-year-old actress’ brother Brett Sinclair, 72, is currently in hospital with a brain tumour, and due to the threat of the virus, she isn’t able to visit him.
The Loose Women star revealed last August that her brother has a grade four glioblastoma and he had been given 18 months to live.
Heartbreaking: Sherrie Hewson fears she will never see her terminally ill brother again due to the coronavirus pandemic
Brave: The 69-year-old actress’ brother Brett Sinclair, 72, is currently in hospital with a brain tumour, and due to the threat of the virus, she isn’t able to visit him (pictured in hospital last year)
Speaking to Yours Magazine, the star said: ‘My brother is in hospital with a brain tumour. I call him every other day but he is very ill and I don’t know if he’ll come out of this.’
‘My family are absolutely everything to me yet I haven’t been able to see my two granddaughters aged nine years and nine months, my 13-year-old grandson, and my darling daughter Keeley.
‘We’re in touch all the time but it’s really hard not being able to cuddle and kiss them.
The former Coronation Street star also discussed how her career had been severely disrupted by the pandemic, which has caused studios across the country to close.
Bond: Speaking to Yours Magazine , the star said: ‘My brother is in hospital with a brain tumour. I call him every other day but he is very ill and I don’t know if he’ll come out of this’
She said: ‘I’m also worried about work – all the stuff I had in place has been cancelled. Who knows if I’ll work at all over the next six months?
‘I went through a stage of crying all the time but then I told myself to pull myself together. It’s awful for everyone, isn’t it? There are people so much worse off than me. At least I have a roof over my head and a garden I can sit in.’
Sherrie likened the pandemic and the chaos it has created to ‘finding yourself in a zombie film’.
She said: ‘I also feel OK health wise. But we’re all at a loss because, apart from the fear and the worry, nothing like this has ever happened to any of us before.
‘It’s like finding yourself in a zombie film.’
The interview comes after Sherrie broke down in floods of tears on Good Morning Britain earlier this month when she revealed her beloved brother Brett was in hospital and she can’t see him.
Calling in from home in Manchester, Sherrie told Lorraine Kelly: ‘I have a brother with a brain tumour in Wales and I can’t see him and he was in hospital and he had to be moved to make space for a bed.’
Battle: The interview comes after Sherrie broke down in floods of tears on Good Morning Britain earlier this month when she revealed her beloved brother Brett was in hospital and she can’t see him
As a picture came up of them on screen, she said: ‘There he is, he’s gorgeous. I can’t see him so I send him silly videos every day and that’s the way to do it.’
A glioblastoma is the most common and aggressive form of brain tumours in adults and last August Sherrie had spoken about the tragic situation.
The cause of glioblastomas are currently unknown, but they are usually treated with surgery, followed by a combination of radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
Due to glioblastomas having tendrils that extend to other regions of the brain, it can be difficult to fully remove all of the growth.
Devoted Sherrie previously told The Mirror that she would work ‘365 days a year’ to get help for her brother and found the news impossible get her head around.
She said: ‘I wouldn’t take it in. I think it was my way of dealing with it because I knew I was due on stage and because I just didn’t want to believe it.
Supporting one another: Lorraine looked visibly moved when Sherrie said she has been sending her brother silly videos every day
‘Brett is my big brother who I have always looked up to and he has always led a charmed life. Everything he touched had turned to gold and suddenly I was hearing this. It didn’t make sense.
‘Part of me wanted to throw everything up in the air and go to him there and then. But another voice in my head said, ‘No. You need to keep on earning, girl, because Brett is going to need you now. You’d better get out here and do your job’.’
Since March, actor Brett has undergone two major surgeries, chemotherapy and radiotherapy.
It was in fact his daughter Chloe Jackson that first raised the alarm after being concerned by his symptoms which included being ‘engulfed’ by a smell of parma violets and feeling like he was in an alternative world.
Difficult time: Sherrie obviously found it very hard to talk about her brother as she struggled to get her words out
The Mirror reported that on April 4, 2019, a few days after his diagnosis, Brett was admitted to the Walton Centre, Liverpool, where a golf ball sized tumour was removed from his brain in a nine-hour operation.
While the operation was a success, he suffered a massive bleed on the brain three days later and needed another four-hour operation to remove a blood clot.
It’s not known if Brett’s latest hospital stay has been linked in any way to the coronavirus, but Sherrie is unable to visit him to due to the current lockdown.
He had previously said: ‘I’m grateful I’ve had such a rich, full life right up to my 70s, and I feel blessed I’ve got such a loving, supportive family around me.’
Brett lives with his family in Llandudno in North Wales and Sherrie had planned on moving there to be near to her brother.
While talking to Lorraine, Sherrie had called for Dr Hilary to be given a knighthood.
She said: ‘I think after this you should be knighted. You don’t know how much you mean to people. You don’t know how much you’re in their hearts. I think you’re truly wonderful.’
She added: ‘Lorraine you’re the light in people’s lives and we need this right now.’
Dr Hilary replied: ‘You’re so right about love and laughter Sherrie. Get on the internet, get on the phone to your loved ones’.
Corrie and Benidorm star Sherrie said: ‘I pray and hope we all recognise our NHS and we honour them because, my god, we never cared for them before.’
Amid her brother’s cancer battle, Sherrie has since become an ambassador for The Brain Tumour Charity in a bid to raise awareness of the illness.
The Brain Tumour Charity’s chief executive, Sarah Lindsell said: ‘Our hearts go out to Sherrie as the coronavirus lockdown keeps her apart from her brother Brett.
‘Like Sherrie, so many of our supporters face painful separations from their families at a time they need their comfort to cope with the devastating impact of living with a brain tumour.
‘And every day we get calls on our support line from people anxious that their treatments have been postponed or scans cancelled – our support services have never been more important.’
Visit www.thebraintumourcharity.org for more information.
Doing what she can: Amid her brother’s cancer battle, Sherrie has since become an ambassador for The Brian Tumour Charity in a bid to raise awareness of the illness.