SOAP STORYLINE HELPS RAISE AWARENESS OF BOWEL CANCER
All eyes at Colon
Cancer Concern (CCC), the
UK’s leading
bowel cancer charity, will be on ITV1’s soap opera Emmerdale over
the coming months after one of its leading characters has told
the programme’s 10 million viewers that she has
the disease.
The news that Diane
Blackstock, the Woolpack landlady in the programme,
has been diagnosed with bowel cancer is a significant
milestone for the disease and brings a traditionally taboo
subject to its biggest ever audience in the UK.
CCC has been working closely with Emmerdale’s
researchers, scriptwriters and producers in preparation for
the high profile
storyline, who have been very keen to ensure that the issue
is handled sensitively and accurately on prime time television.
The charity has called in extra resources to meet the anticipated
increase in demand on its nurse-led Infoline service, the phone
number of which will appear in the credits at the end of key
episodes featuring the bowel cancer storyline.
THE CCC INFOLINE: 08708
50 60 50
The storyline comes as welcome news for CCC, as it helps the
charity raise awareness and increase the profile of a disease,
which has been ignored and misunderstood for too long, despite
being the second biggest cause of cancer death in the UK.
Elizabeth Estensen, the actress
who plays Diane in Emmerdale says:
"Through
my character's bowel cancer storyline, my eyes
have been opened to some alarming facts about
the disease: that it claims a life every 30 minutes;
that one in five people are diagnosed too late
because they don't act upon their symptoms; and
that it is so treatable when diagnosed early.
I hope that the storyline will contribute to
raising awareness of a disease that we don't
like to talk about - yet must."
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Jola Gore-Booth, CCC’s Chief Executive, comments: “We’re
delighted that Emmerdale has recognised the importance of bowel
cancer and is helping us to tackle the disease through this
important storyline.
“We’ve been very encouraged by how much Emmerdale
has involved us in ensuring that the storyline is realistic.
In this way, the programme will show viewers that ordinary
people get bowel cancer; it will help reduce the embarrassment
surrounding the disease and bring it to the forefront of people’s
minds – and rightly so. Bowel cancer affects some 35,000
people every year and of this number, 16,000 will die.”
Based on a Press Release by "CCC" Dated:
23 August 2004 |
