Sarah Sugden’s health has been a big storyline on Emmerdale over the years, with her health once again taking front and centre in a new storyline
Sarah Sugden has been struggling with her health for years on Emmerdale.
The daughter of Debbie Dingle – who has been living with Charity Dingle (Emma Atkins) since her mum exited the village – has struggled with her health since she was a child. A few years ago, she almost died and her family have been very protective as a result.
Sarah was diagnosed back in 2011 when she was just six-years-old, and needed a bone marrow transplant to save her life. It was later revealed she had been diagnosed with a rare genetic disease called Fanconi anaemia.
Debbie and Andy felt they needed to have another child to save Sarah, as neither of them were a match for the young girl, but things turned even worse when Sarah began to develop leukaemia. Jack was born later that month and was a match for the young girl.
Elsewhere back in 2017, Sarah was diagnosed with throat cancer. The whole village came together to raise money for her to receive treatment in Prague, and with Faith Dingle’s contribution, Sarah was able to go and have her treatment.
Sarah has been in hospital on and off for years
A year later, she collapsed and was suffering with heart failure. It came from a side effect of chemotherapy. She also managed to get struck down with a virus when she was waiting for a transplant, but luckily overcame this and was able to go through with the surgery. Initially, there were complications but all in all, Sarah has been doing better recently.
However, her heart transplant has left her fearful she won’t have as long a life as some of her fellow Dales residents, and she has also been in hospital and sheltering multiple times because of her health struggles.
After her heart operation, she revealed she just wanted to be “normal” and didn’t want people treating her differently. Back in 2019, she told Charity: “Time is running out. I’ve not got long and I want to spend it doing things I want to do with people I want to do them with.” Will Sarah be ok or is something wrong with her health?
