Leanne Battersby (Jane Danson) has held out hope until this point that things will turn out okay for young Oliver but she is set to be left shattered when doctors in Coronation Street diagnose him with an incurable form of life shortening disease mitochondria.
However, when the bad news hits her, Leanne is in an understandable state of shock and devastation and refuses to believe that this is her son’s fate – and she demands of Steve McDonald (Simon Gregson) that they get a second opinion as she is not going to lose Oliver.
The scenes will pack an emotional and gut wrenching punch and Jane Danson has admitted that this is the worst place that Leanne has ever found herself in.
The actress told us: ‘This has come out of nowhere, a few weeks ago Oliver was fine and developing like any other three year old, now he seems to be regressing. When they’re told about mitochondrial disease that’s when it really hits home.
‘Leanne wants a second opinion, other people try to point out they’ve had that from the hospital but she won’t take no for an answer, she wants to try a different hospital.
‘It puts a massive strain on the people around her who aren’t necessarily agreeing with what she’s saying. There’s only so much softly softly you can offer a person before you have to give them the cold hard facts.’
Back home, Leanne starts to break down and admits to Steve that if Oliver dies, she will have nothing left, unaware that a hurt Simon Barlow (Alex Bain) has overheard her.
And as the weeks go on, those closest to her will be at a loss over how to help her through this nightmare.
Jane sighed: ‘She tries to remain in control, she takes on the mantle of saying he’s my son, I’ll deal with this and she really puts up the barriers. Everyone around her is trying to help but they all become punch bags for her emotion.
‘There’s an element of denial to a point but then once there’s some acceptance she decides Oliver needs her and no-one else. She shuts down to everyone else for a period and everyone is walking on eggshells around her. She can be quite angry and harsh with people but at the same time I think it’s understandable because of the hell she’s going through.’
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