Off the set, her life was defined by her family and, more recently, her bout with lung cancer.

CNN: STORY HIGHLIGHTS

If Edwarda had been given insulin shots, her bad bout with the flu likely would have been just that, nothing more.

CNN: December 24, 2012 -- Updated 0455 GMT (1255 HKT)

Monica Harris, due to fight on Friday, said that bout will be her last.

BBC: Boxer Michael Norgrove death: Monica Harris to quit ring

In 1999 the Queen Mother missed her first Braemar Gathering in 20 years after suffering a bout of flu.

BBC: Queen Mother misses games

She might have passed it off as a bout of the flu if it hadn't been for the tremendous pain in her upper back.

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Her study, which followed 949 elderly people for 17 years, showed dementia more often followed a bout of depression.

BBC: Depressed elderly man

Her ill health intensified in the 1990s, when she endured two hip replacement operations and another near-fatal bout of pneumonia.

BBC: Hollywood's favourite Dame