Bernie Winter-Alahan faces her family’s health discovery in upcoming Corrie scenes
Bernie Winter at the hospital in Coronation Street(Image: ITV)
Coronation Street star Jane Hazlegrove has said Bernie Winter-Alahan ‘has a decision to make’ in upcoming scenes as she faces her family’s health discovery.
Viewers of the ITV soap, which is filmed in Salford, know that Bernie’s son, Kit Green, has been diagnosed with breast cancer. The diagnosis comes on the back of the death of Bernie’s aunt, Celeste, who made Gemma Winter-Brown aware that the family may carry the familial BRCA gene.
Carrying a familial BRCA (Breast Cancer) gene mutation means inheriting a harmful change in the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes from a parent, which significantly raises your lifetime risk of developing certain cancers.
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But as Bernie and Gemma face testing, unbeknownst to them, Kit has already been seeking medical help due to concerns about his own health and last week, Kit was seen being told he had stage 3 breast cancer, which had already spread to his lymph nodes.
Speaking about how Bernie is handling Celeste’s dying bombshell, Jane said: “She’s not particularly floored by the news of Celeste herself, as there’s been no contact between them for years and years, there’s no love lost there. However, the revelation that breast cancer could be genetic was a massive shock.
“She’s definitely floored by that, though she’s handling it with her typical “glass half full” approach. Bernie is a big believer in the power of denial and positive thinking; she knows she very probably has the gene, but she isn’t going to let that consume her.”
According to spoilers for next week’s episodes of Corrie, Kit and Bernie’s husband, Dev Alahan, and Kit accompany Bernie to her appointment, having undergone testing for the hereditary BRCA gene mutation.
Kit heads to the hospital for Bernie’s appointment(Image: ITV)
In the waiting room, she tells them she knows in her heart of hearts that her test will prove negative. Kit loses his temper and storms off. Bernie catches up with Kit and berates him for his negative attitude.
But Kit will eventually come clean to Bernie, of which Jane has said: “She is absolutely devastated. She can’t believe he didn’t tell her what he was going through all that time. But then, she draws a parallel to her own secretive gene. She realises they have things in common because they are both very good at hiding and avoiding, and perhaps turning the occasional white lie into the truth. She just cannot accept that this is happening to him.”
She continued: “The minute he says he has it, she knows she must be a carrier, because it can’t skip a generation. Her next fear is for Gemma, the quads, and Brody. She’s terrified for her children. It’s a lot of turmoil; she’s having nightmares. She’s feeling that ‘mother lion’ instinct, she’s said, ‘If I could take it, I would,’ which echoes things she said to Paul [Foreman]. It’s a path that’s well-travelled for her.”
When asked what’s ahead for Bernie, Jane added: “She has some massive decisions to make. For a woman pushing 60, deciding to lose her breasts is huge, especially because she and Dev are such a physical couple. But she has about a 70% chance of developing breast cancer, and she wants to be around for her grandkids and the quads.
“She’s determined to stick around. She’s not sure what the psychological effects of the surgery will be, but she has to make a decision and she says, ‘I’m still going to be me.’ It’s going to be a long road, but she’s not going anywhere.”