Liz Dawn thanks doctors for saving her life

Coronation Street star Liz Dawn has thanked doctors for saving her life as she opened a research unit for patients with lung diseases.

The veteran actress, who played Vera Duckworth in the soap, said that she owes her life to staff at Wythenshawe Hospital, where she unveiled the new £3.4m centre.

Dawn was diagnosed with emphysema in 2004, but she thought that the symptoms were just asthma until she paid a visit to the clinic. She reserved particular praise for professor Ashley Woodcock, who she claimed was instrumental in her treatment and recovery.

"I only had a third of my lungs working when I first came here. I was in a bad way and I had pneumonia twice," she told The Mirror.

"Professor Woodcock - who is here today - I feel as if he saved my life because I hadn't been taking the proper medication and I've been coming in here to see him ever since. I feel as if my life's begun, I've got my life back."

> Video: Liz Dawn talks Corrie and emphysema