Leanne Battersby (Jane Danson) is a broken woman in Coronation Street as the struggling mother continues to grieve over the prospect of losing her son Oliver, who is terminally ill with a strand of mitochondrial disease.
Since being given the shattering news, Leanne has fallen apart and despite everyone’s attempts to pitch in, she has wanted to do everything herself.
She eventually, with huge reluctance, allows Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson) to have his son overnight but Leanne can’t cope with Oliver being away from her and Nick Tilsley (Ben Price) is startled when she goes missing at the crack of down.
He finds her out on the Street, heading over to number one in her pyjamas to take Oliver back but Nick eventually coaxes her gently away. It is clear that she is lost and distraught and Dr Gaddas advises her that she might find therapy helpful and also tries to prescribe her medication to help with her trauma.
Leanne snaps back that she doesn’t need any of this and she just wants to focus on Oliver – but things get even worse when she turns on sister Toyah (Georgia Taylor) with some devastating words.
As Toyah tries to comfort Leanne, she snaps and tells her that she can’t understand how she feels before then saying something so brutal that Toyah bursts into tears and flees, leaving Leanne alone to break down.
What is mitochondrial disease?
Mitochondrial diseases result from failures of the mitochondria, specialized compartments present in every cell of the body (except red blood cells).
Mitochondria are responsible for creating more than 90% of the energy needed by the body to sustain life and support organ function. When they fail, less and less energy is generated within the cell. Cell injury and even cell death follow. If this process is repeated throughout the body, whole organ systems begin to fail.
The parts of the body, such as the heart, brain, muscles and lungs, requiring the greatest amounts of energy are the most affected.
Symptoms vary depending on the organ(s) affected but may include seizures, atypical cerebral palsy, autistic features, developmental problems, fainting and temperature instability.
According to The Lily Foundation, the prognosis depends upon the severity of the disease and other criteria. As more research funds are raised to find more effective treatments and ultimately a cure, some of the affected children and adults are living fairly normal lives with mitochondrial disease.
In other cases, children may not be able to see, hear, talk or walk. Affected children may not survive beyond their teenage years. Adult onset can result in drastic changes from an active lifestyle to a debilitating ilness is a short amount of time.
Treatment plans vary from patient to patient but involve therapies, diet changes and other means to try and slow the progress of the disease.
As the family continues to be ripped apart by tragedy, the pain is just beginning as the dark future for Leanne only leads to more heartbreak.
But will she let anyone in to help her when Toyah comes up with an idea to support her?
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