The Sick Child Soap Opera Trope Plot Twist That Always Fades Away

Soap Operas often have storylines featuring sick or dying children. Currently, The Young and the Restless is wrapping up Connor Newman’s OCD storyline, and Faith’s kidney transplant has recently been mentioned. General Hospital had two unborn babies die in the past many months. Days of our Lives also featured Chanel losing her baby after big worries over radiation problems. On The Bold and the Beautiful, Hope, panicked when Beth got sick earlier this summer. Here are a few more sick kid storylines that have popped up on daytime over the years, and a lot of times, these stories end up fizzling out. Here are a few of them.

Guiding Light

Over 25 years ago, Guiding Light made a big deal of Holly (Maureen Garrett) and Fletcher’s (Jay Hammer) daughter, Meg, being born with Down’s Syndrome. Meg was born, her parents fretted, her parents decided she was perfect the way she was, and then her parents split up. Fletcher ran off with Meg. And Holly hardly ever mentioned her again. There was a story that went nowhere.

All My Children

First, Lily’s (Michelle Trachtenberg) autism was used as an excuse for her mother, Laurel (Felicity Huffman), being a thief. After all, no parent in America can raise a child with a developmental disability without resorting to a life of crime. Then, when the non-verbal child Lily grew up into the perfectly communicative teen Lily (Leven Alice Rambin), she was triggered into anxiety attacks by the color red. When it was convenient for the plot, when it wasn’t, like, say, at a 4th of July celebration where she had other things to do, Lily was perfectly fine. There was a story that went nowhere.

All My Children‘s Children

Kendall (Alicia Minshew) and Ryan’s (Cameron Mathison) son, Spike, was in a car accident caused by Greenlee (Rebecca Budig), which caused him to lose his hearing. Later, it turned out that the issue was genetic, so Greenlee wasn’t to blame at all. Either way, Spike got a cochlear implant, and the potential handicap was rarely mentioned again. There was a story that went nowhere.

General Hospital

Sonny (Maurice Benard) and Carly (Laura Wright) fretted all through her pregnancy about their baby girl being born with spina bifida. She was. She immediately had surgery. She was fine. Her condition was rarely mentioned again. There was a story that went nowhere. (The jury is still out on whether Leo’s autism will prove to have a point.)

The Young and the Restless

Abby (Melissa Ordway), Devon (Bryton James), and Chance (Conner Floyd) were terrified because their son Dominic needed a bone marrow transplant. Abby was only a 50% match, but Devon (his biological father) was a 100% match. Ultimately, Devon donated his bone marrow, and the whole storyline quickly wrapped up…going nowhere.

Days of our Lives

As we mentioned earlier, Johnny (Carson Boatman) and Chanel’s (Raven Bowens) unborn baby was at risk after a radioactive Paulina (Jackeé Harry) left the hospital against doctor’s orders to rescue them. For weeks, they fretted and worried over how they would raise a child with serious health complications. They considered their options, and ultimately, the couple decided to move forward with the pregnancy, only for Chanel to miscarry the baby shortly after.