There's sad news ahead for Sally Webster on Coronation Street when she's diagnosed with breast cancer.Digital Spy reveal that Corrie producers are working with a panel of breast cancer experts and charities to ensure that Sally's story is portrayed as realistically as possible. Sally's diagnosis will come when Kevin and Molly decide on their future together and a guilt-ridden Kevin will be forced to choose between Molly and his wife.
Sally Whittaker, who plays Sally Webster, said: "I do know women who have suffered or are suffering from breast cancer. For the last year, I have been fundraising for breast cancer charities and am a long-standing patron for The Genesis Appeal. So, when I was told about this storyline I was determined to do it justice for all the women out there who are going through what Sally is."
23 comments:
Will the writers stick with Sally's Hyacinth Bucket persona and have her insist on private healthcare?
I think Sally is the perfect character to do this story and i think they'll do it justice just as Alma did with the cervical cancer story. Sally's a survivor, i think she'll have a better outcome.
Wow, that sounds like it'll be a good story line.
@ Balvert - Sally is so very Hyacinth "Bouquet"
It sounds a very good and informative story line if done sensitively but I thought they were going to do an informative storyline with Liz and the menopause but it was totally skimmed over.
This should be a really good storyline. I just hope that it isn't overshadowed by the Molly and Kevin rubbish. Also, Sally Whittaker is brilliant, so she will do it justice.
The problem with it is that it's a non story because we all know Sally will survive.
Wouldn't it be far braver of the writers to let the character actually die following a courageous battle with the disease.
Then Kevin and Molly could make a go of it.
It'd be good in that you'd then have all the explosive tension between Molly and Kevin's daughters who would (wrongly) see her as the 'scarlet woman' responsible for their mother's untimely demise.
It'd open up a far greater number of possibilities in storyline terms going forward.
But, Anonymous, they did that already with Alma dying after a courageous battle with cervical cancer.
After having breast cancer twice it will be very interesting to see how it is portrayed in Corrie. I love Corrie and hope but am almost sure that Sally Whittaker will cover all the little details and not just the bigger picture.
I never ever watch Coronation Street.
Being Christmas, which is a time for all family members to get together, I caught the very end of Christmas Day's episode.
Having been diagnosed in March and having had a mastectomy I was not ready for this. The fears and emotions came flooding back which, in turn, upset my family as they had not read up on the storyline prior to Christmas Day.
I hope this is handled sensitively and also the "partners" view, emotions and turmoil - they have to go through it too - my husband was/is wonderful but he too had to go through the operation side effects, chemo and radio with me.
Why oh why did this episode have to be shown on Christmas Day - a day when family members get together and it is also a time when people with cancer remember and (to be blunt) wonder if they will see another year with their family.
This did affect me badly and needless to say, my mother especially (aged 89) has not watched it since having gone through it with me.
Sorry ITV, your timing is lousy on such issues. Maximum viewing numbers should not be put before this gastly disease.
I agree with Wendy. Watching this with family on Christmas day having been through this upset myself three years ago was awful. I'm sure the writers could have come up with a better way to boost ratings on christmas day - its thoughtless. Perhaps one year the wrtiers of soaps could provide us with a funny happy episode for Christmas day - or is that too much to ask !!??I hope that this storyline has a positive outcome, for everyone out there who has been through this. And to the anonymous blog who says they hope she is killed of, have a heart for people like me who have been through this hell and are trying to look to the future positively.
I agree with Wendy - ITV - you're timing was lousy and pathetic, regardless of how much you say you have researched the subject. I hope next Christmas the writers can bring us something that we can watch and enjoy.
I hope the Sally storyline continues to be handled sensitively and with a degree of accuracy. I disagree with the comments that the storyline is a non starter as Sally will not die. More women are recovering from this terrible disease and I think this also gives hope to those who are battling with it themselves. I was diagnosed over 7 years ago and luckily am still here to tell the tale.
Having been diagnosed with breast cancer three years ago and still being in treatment I feel very 'on edge' watching Sally's story unfold. I am also aware that my family also are on edge and we all kind of hold our breath because we all know what a nightmare we went through and we're still in that five year bracket of check ups every six months and on going hormone treatment for another two + years. My anxiety is that this story line is portrayed accurately and not brushed over as if it were nothing. My family and I have been through a terrible time...mastectomy even though no lymph nodes affected, chemo and the cold caps and sickness that followed, radio therapy, loss of work, loss of routine, loss of body image, loss of control over almost everything routine and normal in life, cancer changed our lives for a long time and it is only now that we are turning a corner and focussing on normal every day life once again. There is so much to consider so PLEASE do it sensitivley but thoroughly. Sally's life will never be the same again after this unless you make it out to be something it isn't...cancer changes lives, not just the patient but each family member. I have watched coronation street for as long as I can remember and this will be a huge test as to whether I continue depending on how this story is portrayed. thank you..I trust that you will be sensitive and thorough about this very emotional story line.
Having recently had a masectomy myself, this storyline is very Real for me at the moment. Apparently Sally was filming in the hospital room next door to mine only the week before i had my op and things do move very quickly, i only found out 3 weeks before and was in for for what originally was a lumpectomy but turned to be a full mastectomy. Wveryone watching the storyline with me does so on tender hooks asthe situation is very similar and my consultant has been helping sally to pin down the emotions of what we breast cancer patients are feeling. One ver big element, 9AND I AM WAITING TO SEE HOW THINGS turn out with sally) is CHEMO! In the grand scheme of things- the surgery, the treatment, chemo was my biggest fear and the thought of losing my hair was unbearable. Daft i know! Butnot uncommon. Needless to say, i do have to have chemo and am coming to my third of 8 sessions, and am as bald a Harry Hill. Hey its only hair! Sallys emotions in the pubon the Karaoke...was well...dead on. I have had a few drunken moments like this my self where your emotions pour out and you just cant stop them. Very emotional and a very sad yet more and more common occurrence in women these days. Im now another statistic, but im a fighter aswell.
Louise...I wish you well. hang on in there with the chemo..the sun will shine again soon... as Kylie sings...'no more rain' play that track when you finish your chemo and celebrate! your hair may well start growing back before the chemo ends too;)as I watch the corrie story line unfold I will be thinking of many more of us out there who have been affected by cancer, not just breast cancer too. Big hug...very best wishes, Sharon.
I can see from some of these comments that this storyline has been understandably upsetting and hard to watch for some. It is 5 years since I was diagnosed with breast cancer at 34 but time is a great dealer and it is with the distance of time that I can watch this storyline and admire how realistically they have portrayed Sally's cancer. When I first read that they were introducing this story-line for their Christmas episode, I groaned. I thought it sounded tacky and melodramatic, and would only be portrayed in relation to the Kevin and Molly storyline. So I have been pleased to see how sensitively and realistically the storyline has been handled and surprised at how many issues it has brought up. I have written a post on this on my own blog and would really love if some of you could share your own thoughts there too...
http://beyondbreastcancer.wordpress.com/2010/01/16/coronation-streets-breast-cancer-storyline/
Yes I've had it too. The story might be pitched as awareness raising but for those of us who have had it - not too many of us want to watch the story on an entertainment show. Wont be watching!...way too painful no matter what way it's portrayed.
I'm not happy with the way the story is being portrayed following the operation. There's no way Sally would be able to wear that coat of hers that fits so tightly under her arms. I had breast cancer this time last year and the lymph node scar was very sore at this stage. I had to buy clothing with bat winged sleeves and was in a great deal of pain when driving to the hospital for radiotheraphy.
This storyline is upsetting me now and I feel as though anyone from work who is watching will think I was putting it on last year to get extra time off work. Also, the whole family going to the hospital with her is totally far fetched. Ther's no way the radiotherapy unit would want the whole family hanging around when other people waiting for treatment are very, very poorly.
Totally agree with Kath. Having been diagnosed with breast cancer at the age of 34 and having had to have a lumpectomy, IVF, chemo & radio finishing in May 2009, I was quite angry with the way they chose to play down Sally's after-effects from the lumpectomy. Where was her lymph drain? Why was she able to reach up and hug her girls?
I have been waiting to watch this storyline to see how it was dealt with. I wonder whether people at my work also think I had such an easy time of it. It is upsetting to watch but somehow quite cathartic too.
I will be very disappointed if they wimp out and don't show Sally going through Chemo because as others have said, it's the bit that most of us dread, including the hair loss. I lost my long blonde straight hair which I've had since a child and now have a short chemo curl bob. It's one of the most distressing and difficult things to go through, so I hope they show a realistic view to the viewers.
Well they've already said Sally won't be going through chemo and is having only radiation. Everyone has a different experience, of course so there will be people that can relate. As for the medical details, most soaps don't go into that much detail for serious illnesses. Sometimes it's time constraints, too, as they need to keep the storylines moving. I think they've done this very well considering.
The story was disgracefully exploitative, in that by focusing on Stage 1 Breast Cancer, it conveyed the impression that Sally's experience is typical. Sadly it is not. 46000 women are diagnosed with breast cancer in the UK every year, and 13000 of these will die - and unlike Sally who just had a lumpectomy followed by a few session of radiotherapy, most will have endured months of surgery (including surgery to remove breasts, and secondary tumours in the bone, liver and lungs), chemotherapy, radiotherapy and endocrine therapy.
The other ridiculous thing is that Sally relaxed in the bath after her radiotherapy, confident of a cure. The reality is that even with stage 1 sufferers, a third will relapse (sometimes as long as 20 years later), which is why no Doctor involved in Breast Cancer Treatment uses the term cure.
From my earlier post, when the Sally storyline was just coming in to focus, i am amazed that they have ended it all so very swiftly!Having had 5 of 8 sessions of 8 of chemo and then further surgery booked in already and then weeks of radiotherapy to be planned in june/july, Things in reality are not so cut and dry, as as others have mentioned already, makes light of the actual reality that we go go through.
Based on the recent news that Sally Whittaker was actually diagnosed with breast cancer herself while filming the Coronation Street breast cancer storyline, I'm sure we all know understand why the storyline was dealt with so swiftly. What a sad coincidence that Sally ended up with breast cancer in real-life too. I wish her well and hope she continues to make progress. She showed incredible courage to film those scenes whilst going through the emotions of her own diagnosis. Good luck to Sally.
.... I was diagnosed in August 09, have gone through chemotherapy, mastectomy and radiotherapy and continuing herceptin and tamoxifen. I must say I did pooh pooh the story line and although I cried when she told her girls, I said "she is only acting, what does she know!" How ironic that she is now in the position of really knowing ..... My heart and prayers go out to Sally and her family and I feel close to her. I look forward to seeing her back on Corrie soon xx
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