BY LUCY CAULKETT
Emmerdale star, Kitty McGeever- the first blind actress to star in a British soap has sadly died at the relatively young age of 44.
McGeever, who played the character of Lizzie Lakely for four years from 2009-2013, passed away on Sunday night, it has been revealed.
A spokeswoman for the show said the actress died on Sunday night, “surrounded by her loving family”. Miss Mc Geever lost her sight in 2004, just before joining the show. A regular stand up comedian, she was a regular performer with a lot of television experience.
The woes of the well known actress were many. She was diagnosed with diabetes at the age of 19; and developed the life-threatening condition pre-eclampsia while pregnant with her first son, Felix.
Dogged by health issues right from a young age, the former television star developed heart and lung conditions at the tender age of four months, becoming ill with stress that thereby triggering heart problems, kidney failure and diabetic retinopathy, all of which culminated in the loss of her eye sight. She had a successful liver in a 12 hour operation, but was awaiting a kidney transplant at the time of her death, but unfortunately never lived to have that opportunity.
Born in Leeds, McGever was raised in Liversedge and Farsley, West Yorkshire. She changed her name from Catherine Mitchell to Kiffy McGeever because there was already an actress with her original name.
Social media has been buzzing with eulogies of the well loved and hardworking actress.
Rik Makarem, who shared screen time with the actress as Nikhil Sharma, tweeted “Deeply emotional hearing Kitty McGeever passed away. This woman was strength personified. A beautiful generous spirit.”
Our condolensces go to her family and collegues, and she will be sorely missed