There’s concern for Debbie Webster (Sue Devaney) in Coronation Street as she dramatically collapses at number 13 and is rushed to hospital.
Debbie was diagnosed with dementia after going to the doctor with symptoms she assumed to be due to the menopause. She’d been becoming increasingly forgetful, mislaying things and missing meetings. Added to this were mood swings and then, most alarmingly, blackouts.
The doctor told Debbie that the blackouts were probably due to mini-strokes and warned her that this could happen again, and said that her symptoms were due to dementia.
At first Debbie kept her diagnosis a secret. Her brother Kevin (Michael Le Vell) had his own health struggles as he was dealing with cancer and Debbie didn’t want to give him more to worry about.
She also pushed away long-term partner Ronnie Bailey (Vinta Morgan), feeling she didn’t want to be a burden on him.
Eventually she opened up about her health to her close friends and family. Insisting she wanted to carry on as normally as possible, she also reconciled with Ronnie and recently proposed to him at Dev (Jimmi Harkishin) and Bernie (Jane Hazlegrove)’s wedding.
Things take a turn for the worse in upcoming episodes, however, when Debbie lets herself into Kevin’s house to do a spot of cleaning while she thinks Kevin and the family are away on holiday.
What she doesn’t realise is that Abi (Sally Carman) has faked losing her passport so she can stay behind and spend time with her new lover – Kevin and Debbie’s brother, Carl (Jonathan Howard).
As Debbie lets herself into the house she’s unaware that Carl is upstairs, while Abi has popped out to buy some lager.It’s just as well Carl is there, as it turns out, because Debbie is suddenly overcome by dizziness and collapses. Carl hears the commotion and goes down to investigate, and finds his sister in a bad way.
Abi gets back to find Carl trying to revive Debbie, who is unconscious. Abi calls an ambulance and alerts Ronnie, who heads over. Meanwhile Carl goes back upstairs to hide again.
Debbie is taken straight to hospital, to be checked over.
