Coronation Street star Daniel Brocklebank has shared how he was concerned that his own personal loss would be triggered as his character is set to lose his partner Paul Foreman. It has been revealed but the ITV soap that Paul, played by Peter Ash, will be diagnosed with motor neurone disease (MND).
Fans have been concerned for Paul ever since he was accidentally knocked over by Carla Connor in her Underworld van after unknowingly being drugged with LSD by Stephen Reid. And after multiple trips to the GP, in scenes to air Friday night (March 24), viewers will be referred to a specialist before, in early April, he is given the devastating news that it is very likely he has MND.
The diagnosis will then be confirmed later in the month. MND is a fatal, rapidly progressing disease that affects the brain and spinal cord. It attacks the nerves that control movement so muscles no longer work. MND does not usually affect the senses such as sight, sound and feeling but it can leave people locked in a failing body, unable to move, talk and eventually breathe.
Viewers will see Paul keeping the diagnosis from his partner Billy Mayhew and his family, confiding only in his flatmate Dee Dee Bailey. The storyline will then follow the progression of the disease as Paul initially deals with the illness alone and eventually has to break the news to his loved ones.
And Dan, who has played Billy in Corrie since 2014, has had his own personal experience of MND, a fatal, rapidly progressing disease that affects the brain and spinal cord. It attacks the nerves that control movement so muscles no longer work. MND does not usually affect the senses such as sight, sound and feeling but it can leave people locked in a failing body, unable to move, talk and eventually breathe.
The 43-year-old's grandfather died of MND, after being diagnosed just a week before his death, and said his own experiences of the disease will directly translate into his acting. "Twenty years ago my grandfather was diagnosed with MND and subsequently died from it so this is a subject I have lived through in my own life as have the rest of my family," Dan, who is an MND ambassador, told the Manchester Evening News and other press.
"It's a subject that's really close to my heart. I have been helping to fundraise for them [the MND Association] for years and so when I first got the phone call from Verity [MacLeod, Corrie's executive producer] I was out walking me dogs and it's always a heart-in-throat moment when one of the producers phones you and you think, 'What on earth is this about?'
"They told me what the storyline was going to be but they had no idea of my history with MND or with the association, so it was a bit of a shock."
He added: "I'm not going to lie, my legs went a little bit weak because I suppose it just brings back memories of that time. And I did wonder if this could potentially be quite triggering in a lot of ways... Billy's knowledge of MND is a lot different to my knowledge buy I’m hoping I might be able to bring some of my personal experience into the playing of this storyline, having been somebody who did in real life help to care for somebody with MND."
Upon the news of the storyline settling in, Dan said: "I was well aware of how much publicity this will give MND and the MND Association. [I'm] obviously extremely sad to know that eventually, we'll have to loose Peter, of course, because I love working with him but for the illness and for the MND association and for my grandfather all the people I have met and known over the last 20 years who have suffered with the illness, in a strange way it is a really lovely way to commemorate them and their stories and hopefully it will raise awareness and get us to a point where we can fund enough research that was can find something to at least slow it down and hopefully, ultimately, cure it."
Asked whether there's added pressure to be involved in a storyline that is portraying something person to him and his family, Dan said he won’t have trouble accessing the emotion to play the part, he has said "the pressure will be trying not to burst into tears." He also recently consulted his family on the storyline.
"I did speak to my mum, it was my mum's dad that had MND, and my mum has a brother and a sister so I've spoken to all three of them if they mind about how much of our family's journey with living with someone with MND that I disclose and all three of them ere happy for me to talk about everything, really, because in the larger scheme of things it will hopefully raise awareness [and] raise money which will hopefully generate research which will mean people won't have to go what we went through at some point."
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