Emmerdale never shies away from rolling out hard-hitting storylines that also help in raising awareness. Not too long ago, the ITV soap saw baby Evan Fletcher falling sick due to low hemoglobin and platelet levels. A bone marrow biopsy revealed that the little baby was suffering from acute lymphoblastic leukemia, also known as ALL, a form of childhood blood cancer.
Evan’s mum Dawn was the first to notice his symptoms, which appeared in the form of random bruises on his body. Initially, Dawn and Billy were scared that the doctors would assume that they caused bodily harm to Evan that resulted in bruising. However, the medical staff assured them that no one would think that because Evan truly had some illness.
Emmerdale rolled out the storyline in an attempt to raise awareness around childhood cancer, and the devastating impact it has on the families of the patients. Which it did beautifully, the ITV soap showed a very emotional scene where Dawn struggles with not been allowed to feed her baby as he needed to be nil by mouth for certain tests.
Evan’s father Billy was equally affected by the baby’s heartwrenching health status and informed Dawn’s father, Will Taylor, and his wife Kim Tate. After some rounds of chemotherapy, Evan was discharged from the hospital and returned home. However, in more recent episodes, the soap has not followed up on the storyline at all, and this has left fans bewildered and upset.
“It wasn’t a good idea to tackle a subject that they aren’t really equipped to deal with properly,” a fan called out the makers of the soap on Digital Spy’s fan forum. Another fan added that all the makers needed to do was add some conversations here and there to address the story.
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Although we have a feeling that the soap may not have forgotten the story entirely. The latest spoilers tease that in the upcoming episodes, Billy Fletcher will once again risk his life in unlicensed boxing matches to be able to provide for his family, especially, Evan. So, stay tuned to Soap Opera Daily for more Emmerdale spoilers on what happens next.
