Wednesday night's episode of Emmerdale delivered a heart-wrenching twist when tragedy struck on the ITV soap.
The drama unfolded as Matty Barton and Mack Boyd became concerned after discovering several immobile sheep on the farm, prompting an urgent call to the veterinarians.
Panic set in when Vanessa Woodfield arrived at the scene only to break the grim news to Moira Dingle that most of her sheep had perished, with one in a critical condition. A baffled Moira confirmed the flock grazed from a nearby trough - something her son Matty was thought to have managed earlier.
Contradicting Moira, Matty insisted he hadn't fed the animals, revealing instead that his mother had tended to them. To their horror, Vanessa observed paint around the mouths of the sheep, and a closer look at the feeding trough they used affirmed that paint-tainted hay was the culprit.
Despite Moira's adamant denial of carelessly handling paint near the livestock after having painted fences, evidence of paint contamination in the trough surfaced, plunging Moira into a state of shock and confusion, reports Leeds Live.
The emotional toll of the disaster led Moira to make a drastic decision later on. Struggling with health issues, a distraught Moira resolved to step back from work, lamenting the cruel manner in which her tumour was stripping her life apart, saying poignantly: "If I can't work what else am I supposed to do? This tumour is taking away everything - my job, my independence, I don't even know who I am anymore..."
After grappling with the fear of causing further harm and putting more lives in jeopardy, a tearful Moira conceded to halt her work for the foreseeable future, confessing: "It's the only way."
Just last month, Emmerdale confirmed a heartbreaking brain tumour storyline for Moira, where she was diagnosed with a type of brain tumour called a meningioma.
The shock diagnosis explained Moira's behaviour recently, where she had been suffering from symptoms including changes to her personality, violent outbursts, confusion, memory loss and seizures.
If you have been affected by this story, you can get support and help at The Brain Tumour Charity or Brains Trust.
Emmerdale airs weeknights at 7:30pm on ITV1 and ITVX, with an hour-long episode on Thursdays.
