At their best, soaps both entertain and educate. In fact, The Bold and the Beautiful has a history of telling compelling stories that also carry with them important messages that can be helpful to viewers. Now, they're doing so again.
As current BB viewers are aware, Katie ( Heather Tom) is undergoing a medical crisis! She's been diagnosed with kidney failure. Katie's specialist, Dr. Davis (Tisha Campbell), has been overseeing her case, dispensing medical information to Katie, Bill (Don Diamont), and other family members. Currently, Katie's options are either going on dialysis or finding a suitable donor who will give a kidney to her.
Watch for Katie's condition to worsen, which will heighten the need for her to get a living donor. So far, none of Katie's existing family members are confirmed matches.
In fact, Donna (Jennifer Gareis) and Brooke ( Katherine Kelly Lang) have been ruled out. Who from Katie's family might come forward and step up to give part of themselves in order to help Katie survive this ordeal?
After the BB episode airing on Tuesday, October 8th, CBS Cares will air a public service announcement (PSA) featuring Tom as she gives information about transplants. An additional PSA featuring Katrina Bowden, who plays Katie's niece Flo Fulton, can be seen on CBSCares.
BB's tackled other social issues over the decades that have brought awareness to viewers including breast cancer (Beth Logan), childhood sexual abuse (Jake MacLaine), alcoholism (Macy Alexander), and rape, teen parenting, and diabetes - all with the character of Jessica Forrester.
Currently, there are 37 million Americans with chronic kidney disease. NKF's THE BIG ASK: THE BIG GIVE platform is designed to increase kidney transplantation and living donation and includes in-person training, direct patient and caregiver support, and peer mentoring. For more information, visit www.kidney.org. The Bold and the Beautiful airs weekdays on CBS. Check local listings for air times.