Just wondering if anyone else has been watching the story on Emmerdale about Brenda's brain tumour and been affected by it?
I have found it compulsive viewing but also very upsetting. It has even been giving me nightmares.
Brenda has been diagnosed with a brain tumour and at the moment is refusing treatment. I am wondering how the story will unfold?
My son had an AVM (arterio veinous malformation) in his head and decided to have treatment. Following this he had a massive bleed which has left him in a persistent vegetative state.
I am surprised and angry that ITV are not offering a helpline support for people affected by the story????? Surely many people are feeling it's impact!!!!
Thoughts please, Sandra
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SandraEB
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The story line is not depicting a health service as I experienced, it is all around the emotional needs of Brenda (as a menopausal middle aged woman?) , without any reference to treatments and outcomes.
Exactly WHAT has Brenda been told by her consultant? No one knows!
When I was eventually diagnosed with a tumour my consultant spoke in terms of percentages and effects of the tumour on my 'quality of life', only referring to end of life when I asked specific questions.To be honest if I had not already had a diagnosis and treatments; after watching this crap, I would be more scared than perhaps a person might already be with the initial diagnosis.
As is often the case 'soaps' go for drama and dam the consequences of real people affected.
There are a lot of 'gaps' in the storyline, as is so often the case with soaps. I was astounded by the speed with which everything seems to be happening.
I feel that it leaves a lot to be desired as regards reality.
My real niggly point is that it is taking something so profound and that many people will be worried by with little regard being given to the feelings of viewers.
i must say that i cannot watch any program which deals with the problems of brain injury
its part of my stay positive dysfunctional avoidance technique
i call it the if you don't have to deal with it, then it doesn't affect you method (which ultimately in the long term is not ideal, but short term hell yeah)
I have been just like you in the many years since my sons TBI, avoiding anything visual on TV relating to bran trauma but as an Emmerdale viewer got sucked in to this unwittingly.
Well done you! More thought needs to go in to topics such as this.
I watch TV very selectively, just news and just a few programmes; definitely nosoaps.
However, those of us here commenting about this 'Brenda's story' have one up on the writers - the actual experience of a damaged brain and its associated bits. It's easy to feel upset with stories like this to be honest.
I watched David Tennant in 'Recovery' with interest and it left me emotionally disturbed; I was crying, not for the character portrayed by Tennant, but for the absolute similarity with my experiences when I was in recovery: inappropriate masturbation, setting the kitchen afire, rages, inappropriate understandings of females who spoke to me, a broken marriage and no mates and a lot more too. In fact I got drunk afterwards, which is now something out of character. Left me depressed and with a hangover
Not worth a complaint though; my disturbance was more that I saw first hand what I had become and what, in time, I managed to change in some small way. It's an absolute bastard to expect an understanding from those who have never suffered but those who wrote 'Recovery' did so with the support of Headway .... but what about the Emmerdale writers?
One has to remember that Emmerdale is just a soap and any one parallel storyline will go for the fantastic, rather than the mundane, to ensure ongoing viewer interest at all times.
The last time I contacted OFCOM was to renew my lifetime amateur radio licence and to get a notice of variation to it to allow me to transmit on 5MHz. I suspect that I will have been more successful with that transaction than a complaint about a soap from a small number of persons who actually know what they are talking about will be.
I didn't watch 'Recovery' so am unable to comment on that but I totally understand your reaction.
Emmerdale is a soap and as such should do proper research in to it's storylines. I would like to think that the writers took advice from somebody, possibly Brainstrust as that was the support link they gave?
I feel better for contacting ITV and OFCOM as it helped me to get it off my chest so to speak.
I did get a reply from "If you have any queries or comments about an ITV show, you can email us at: viewerservices@itv.com ". Thanks again to bikerlifestyle for the link.
No offer of an apology although they did tell me that on Thursday 7th March they gave details of a helpline via Brainstrust.
I sent another email asking again for an apology, this summarises their reply:
"Thank you for your further email regarding Emmerdale – Brenda’s Story.
I am sorry that you were disappointed with our response however we did show an announcement for Brainstrust and didn’t feel an apology was relevant.
The helpline and website details for Brainstrust were announced during Thursday’s programme but please be assured that I will ensure that the producers are made aware of your comments regarding further announcements.
May I again take this opportunity to thank you for taking the time to contact us here at ITV."
I will be watching with interest now to see if the helpline is mentioned again.
Apparently it would appear that Coronation Street is the next in line with a brain injury storyline. I received a text from somebody last night telling me of the events; one of the characters went without oxygen and that the docs are unsure whether there will be brain injury or not.
Now whilst I realise that this is story land and the general public don't really want to see the truth, I sometimes wish that a more realistic approach could be taken!! I believe a character in Eastenders suffered a brain injury a while back and is now trotting round apparently none the worse for wear!!
Whilst I commend the writers for tackling sensitive issues, and this is fantasy land, sometimes, just sometimes I wish it could be a bit more real!!!
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