baby heartbreak
Emmerdale’s Billy and Dawn have worlds turned upside-down as baby diagnosed with leukaemia in harrowing scenes
The diagnosis will come out of the blue for the new parents
EMMERDALE has announced a 'devastating' new storyline as Billy and Dawn's baby son is diagnosed with leukaemia.
The ITV soap covers real life issues in the fictional Yorkshire village, particularly when it comes to health-related storylines.
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Emmerdale is already exploring Parkinson's Disease following Eric Pollard's diagnosis, and in recent scenes, Chas Dingle was diagnosed with breast cancer and had a double mastectomy.
Now, the soap will deal with another heartbreaking storyline involving Billy and Dawn Fletcher.
The couple welcomed son Evan just before Christmas, but in upcoming scenes they will be left devastated when their baby boy is diagnosed with Acute Lymphoblastic Leukaemia.
Speaking at an Emmerdale press day, show producer Laura Shaw explained: "We've got a big story coming up for Billy and Dawn.
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"We've seen these two go through a whole heap of challenges in their relationship.
"They've finally got married, they survived Meena, Dawn got pregnant, they had baby Evan and it's been fairly rosy for these two over the past few months.
"We're going to see their world totally rocked when, almost out of nowhere, Evan is diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL).
"ALL is one of the most common childhood leukaemias. I think there's 650 children and young adults diagnosed with that every year in the UK."
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She continued: "What we really wanted to show with this story is what a stress and strain a long-term illness like this can put on a family.
"What we'll see is how the roles of Dawn and Billy are changed almost overnight and out of nowhere. We'll see how Lucas and Clemmie are affected and the stress that it puts on those sibling dynamics.
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"We'll see how this affects Billy and Dawn's relationship, the wider family in Kim and Will, and all of their friends.
"There's also the financial pressure that looking after a child long-term like that can put on a whole family. That's going to be a big story for us going forward."
The symptoms of childhood acute lymphoblastic leukaemia
Acute lymphoblastic leukaemia (ALL) is a type of blood cancer.
It starts from white blood cells called lymphocytes in the bone marrow.
Anyone can get it, but it is most common in younger people, especially children aged four and under.
Symptoms often mimic other conditions, but kids might experience:
- Feeling weak or tired
- Flu-like symptoms
- A high temperature (fever)
- Picking up or not being able to shake off infections, such as coughs and colds
- Bruising and bleeding easily
- Weight loss
- Swollen lymph nodes
- Bone or joint pain
- Breathlessness
- Feeling full
- Looking pale or washed out
Some patients will also get a rash that looks like tiny red, purple or brown dots that don't turn white when pressed.
Almost 90 per cent of children under 15 with ALL will survive for five years or more after being diagnosed.
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Emmerdale airs on ITV1 and is available on ITVX.
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