Jean isn't ready to hear the C-word
(Picture: ITV)

Jean Slater’s (Gillian Wright) devastating cancer storyline took hold in EastEnders after her GP revealed she may have cancer, but will Jean realise she urgently needs help?

Jean was pressured into seeing her GP by Stacey after complaining of a funny tummy and feeling unwell. But she wasn’t prepared for what her Doctor had to say.

She explained her symptoms to the GP; experiencing a funny tummy, she can’t keep food down and immediately feels full when she does eat, and hasn’t had a period in a while. She thought it was just the menopause but it quickly became clear it could be something much more serious.

Jean wasn’t ready to come to terms with the idea something was actually wrong, desperately trying to change the subject as the doctor tried to drop the bombshell having insisted on a proper examination.

She told Jean she felt a mass during the examination and as Jean proved not willing to listen, the GP was forced to get frank with her.

Jean is given terrible news by the GP
(Picture: BBC)

‘There is a chance, given the symptoms, that there could be something seriously wrong with your womb or ovaries,’ she said, all but confirming Jean’s fear she has cancer.


She was then left shocked when the doctor pushed through appointments and told her she urgently needed an ultrasound, as Jean tried to assure the doctor there was probably nothing wrong.

Leaving in a daze under the shock of the news, Jean encountered Ian (Adam Woodyatt), who received a short shrift as she struggled with what she’d just been told. As he tried to apologise she branded him selfish and self-obsessed, hitting out at his long list of ex wives.

But in reality she was masking the pain and fear of a potential cancer diagnosis. She headed home to be told that Hayley (Katie Jarvis) had done a runner from the hospital, but instead of becoming stressed as she usually would, she told Stacey (Lacey Turner) and Kat (Jessie Wallace) how much she loved them, keeping to herself the terrible news she’d just received.

Will Jean bury her head in the sand and refuse to get checked out over fears it might be cancer? Could it already be too late?