Coronation Street character Oliver died last year. But how did Leanne’s son die?
Over the last few months, Leanne has been struggling with the loss of her son Oliver.
This week, she began to find white feathers around the flat and believed it was a sign from her late son.
But when she discovered her older son Simon had planted the feathers, she was furious.
But who is Oliver and how did he die?
Who is Oliver in Coronation Street?
Oliver is the son of Leanne Battersby and Steve McDonald. He is the half brother of Amy Barlow, Emma Brooker and late Rauiri McDonald.
He is also the stepson of Leanne’s partner Nick Tilsley and Simon’s wife Tracy McDonald.
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Whilst Simon isn’t Leanne’s biological son, she raised him as if he was and Simon was a big brother to Oliver.
Oliver was conceived when Leanne and Steve had a one night stand in June 2016. Steve had briefly separated from his wife Michelle Connor at this time.
Leanne found out she was pregnant and Steve got back with Michelle shortly afterwards. Not long later, Michelle also became pregnant.
However Steve went into labour at just 23 weeks and gave birth to a stillborn son, who she named Rauiri.
A few months later, on February 20th 2017, Oliver was born. When Michelle found out that Steve was the father of Leanne’s son she was heartbroken.
Growing up Oliver was loved by not just his immediate family, but also his extended family which included The Barlow and Platt family.
How did he die?
In 2020, Oliver appeared to be falling ill. But in April, when he was being looked after by Summer Spellman, he began having a seizure.
Oliver continued to have seizures and doctors started to run tests.
Eventually Oliver was diagnosed with an incurable and life-limiting form of mitochondrial disease and doctor’s told Steve and Leanne he had suffered permanent brain damage from the seizures.
As the weeks past, Oliver’s condition deteriorated and he had to be kept under constant heavy sedation to prevent the fits. he also needed a breathing tube.
In September 2020, doctor’s told Leanne and Steve that Oliver’s brain damage was so severe that he would never be able to breath on his own and combined with needing constant sedation, he had no hope of recovering.
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They believed it would be in Oliver’s best interest to withdraw his life support. However Leanne refused to let her son go and took the hospital to court to fight the decision.
The medical trust were satisfied doctors had done all they could for Oliver. Leanne vowed to appeal, but Steve wanted to end his son’s suffering.
Eventually Leanne decided not to appeal and made the decision to turn off Oliver’s life support on November 20th 2020. He died shortly afterwards, leaving his family, loved ones and viewers devastated.
Who played Oliver?
Oliver was played by Toby Catley and twins Emmanuel and Jeremiah Cheetham.
Toby only played Oliver in 2017. However Emmanuel and Jeremiah continued to play the character until his death in November 2020.
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