Actress Shirley Hellyar who ‘hoped she’d live long enough’ to see herself in Netflix’s Outlaw King dies, aged 40, after cancer battle
Shirley passed away in her sleep on Wednesday - two days before the release of the Robert the Bruce drama
AN actress who hoped she'd live long enough to see herself onscreen in Netflix drama Outlaw King has tragically died from cancer.
Shirley Hellyar thought she had beaten the killer illness, but was told she had just weeks to live after travelling to Newcastle to celebrate her 40th birthday.
and she revealed how she desperately wanted to watch herself in the movie.
Shirley began a gofundme page to help with funeral costs where she raised almost £7,000 of a £5k target.
And news of her passing was posted in a statement on the fundraiser.
It read: "This is a very sad message to let everyone know that Shirley unfortunately passed away in her sleep on Wednesday 7th November.
"Shirley was very grateful for everyone's help and donations which made her last few weeks so much better.
"She said that all the help she has received restored her faith in human kindness.
"Thank you all once again."
Shirley’s rare form of blood cancer came back earlier this year, leaving her stranded almost 200 miles from home in Newcastle at the time.
The cancer took shape in a 10cm tumour in her lungs – which she was told had significantly shrunk by September 4.
She was stuck in a Newcastle hospice without her parents by her side.
And she said at the time: “I feel really cheated, things were going places and then I fell sick – it just doesn’t seem fair.
“I still feel like this isn’t real, like I’m talking about someone else and maybe I need to do that to cope.
“All I have left is time and all you can do is make nice memories.”
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