EMMERDALE STAR ON SICK SON AGONY
He’s got a massive scar. We told him he had a fight with a shark DOMINIC BRUNT ON THE AFTERMATH OF OPERATION
WATCHING his baby son be sedated and wheeled away to theatre, Emmerdale star Dominic Brunt thought he was saying goodbye for good.
Little Danny had been diagnosed with a heart condition at eight months old and needed by-pass surgery.
Dominic and wife Joanne were told there was a chance the tot might not make it through the complex operation.
They were asked to consider whether they would donate his organs if the worst happened. The couple agreed if their baby did not survive they would ensure his organs would help others.
Dominic says: “At the time it was horrific. You’re in the eye of the storm, it was horrible. You think you are going to lose your son.
“We had only just got to know him – he was eight months old, and we thought that was it.
“That was the worst bit – when they gave him the pre-meds and the gas and air and they took him out of the room and you just thought that was goodbye. We discussed organ donation. It was brought up by a nurse because there was a mortality rate with the operation. We had to discuss it, but even before that we’d all agreed to be donors in the family – my sisters are nurses so it was how we were brought up.”
Thankfully he pulled through and is a healthy football-mad nine-year-old boy. He has to have yearly checks but there is nothing he cannot do.
Dominic, 48, laughs: “He is fine now. He is healthier than me or you, absolutely rocking. It is incredible what they can do.
“He has got a massive scar – we used to tell him he had a fight with a shark so he got a shock when we told him he’d had a heart operation.”
Dominic may be able to smile, but his Emmerdale storyline is a stark reminder of how lucky his family were to get a happy ending.
His character Paddy Kirk and girlfriend Chas Dingle are expecting a baby who has no chance of survival due to the genetic condition bilateral renal agenesis, which means her lungs and kidneys will not develop properly.
The devastated couple were offered the choice to terminate the pregnancy but decided to continue to full-term not only to give their baby the best life possible but also in the hope they might be able to donate her organs to give another
child a chance of life. Paddy and Chas’s decision was inspired by Chas’s niece Sarah who is clinging to life on the heart transplant waiting list.
Dominic is 100% behind the Daily Mirror’s “Max’s Law” campaign, named after heart transplant boy Max Johnson, to change the donor system to “opt-out” so organs automatically become available unless people choose not to take part.
“We’ve always been organ donors in our family and given blood,” he says. “The only sensible thing is an opt-out system.
“If you are involved in an accident, they’ve got to root through your wallet, find that donor card, and if someone hasn’t got a card what then?
“That person might have wanted to be a donor but never discussed it with their family. It is not something you speak about at dinner table is it? An opt-out system has to be the best way.”
His co-star Lucy Pargeter, who plays Chas, agrees. Mum to Lola, 13, and one-year-old twins Missy and Betsy, she says parents do not want to think about what they would do in that situation, so an opt-out system would be best. “It should be a given that you are there to help others when you pass,” she says. “I haven’t thought about it with my children, it’s not something you bring up. “You don’t want to think about it, it is like writing your will. You don’t think, I’ll sign my children up to the organ donor register today. Because people don’t have those conversations it should be an opt-out system.” Both actors have been astounded by the amount of people who have thanked them for highlighting the choices faced by parents when told their unborn child is unlikely to survive. Chatting during a break from filming, Lucy says: “I’m surprised by how many people have said this has happened to us, it is bringing it all back and thank you for highlighting it. It has been quite overwhelming how many people it does and has affected.”
The stars say that the harrowing storyline has even helped people talk about their own baby loss for the very first time.
Lucy explains: “Some people have not been able to say to friends, they never thought anybody would understand.
“Hopefully we have helped people to open up and talk about their experiences or their fears if they are going through something similar.
“I think that is what soaps do, they open up conversations to help people talk about these issues.”
Emmerdale sought guidance from the Forget Me Not charity, which supports families of children with life-shortening conditions for accuracy.
“When we have had emotional stuff to film it was very hard to leave it behind, you can’t shake it,” Dominic says. “We aren’t going through it in real life, Imagine really going through it?
“Firstly as an actor you want to get it right. You are honoured to be given that story, then on the flip-side you want to do it justice for the people who have been through it and you want to do it responsibly and carefully.”
Chas goes into labour at Robert and Aaron’s stag do in the Woolpack, and Paddy takes her to hospital knowing they will be meeting their child for the first and last time.
The stars believe the way Paddy and Chas have dealt with such a devastating prognosis might help couples who are facing similar heartbreak.
“Once they have made the decision they are going to have the child, they don’t wallow in it,” says Dominic. “They decide to give the child the best life that it can have and they will be a family for that short amount of time.
“They decide to hit it with positivity and love. It is brilliantly done.”
Lucy agrees: “I hope for anybody who is faced with anything like Chas and Paddy are, this can show there can be positivity with such an awful prognosis.
“I hope it can show if you make decisions together as a team then you can get through it.”
Hopefully we have helped people talk about their experiences LUCY PARGETER ON THE SOAP’S TOUGH STORYLINE