Abigail Wilmett, from Liverpool, had surgery to reduce her breasts from a 32HH (left) to 32DD (centre, right) to improve her long-distance running. Her large breasts slowed her down considerably and made running uncomfortable - forcing her before the operation to give up completely. 'I hated it and resented the fact I couldn't do what I wanted to do because the size of my chest was holding me back,' she says. Within a year of the operation she completed her first half marathon and has since run marathons around the world. ''I couldn't believe how much easier it felt to run without giant boobs bouncing around - and just wished I had done it sooner.' She is one of a growing number of women having breast reduction surgery for sports reasons, new figures reveal. At the age of 17, Romanian tennis player Simona Halep underwent extensive breast reduction surgery to take her from a 34DD to a more modest 34C and as a result, rocketed up 450 places in the world rankings.

While most teenagers have been looking forward to the start of the summer holiday, Taylor Turner, 14, from Basildon, has been desperate to get back to school. Last term, all he could manage were a couple of mornings a week - and even then, his mother Donna made sure he travelled by taxi. More than anything, he wants to be 'normal'. But life for Taylor is far from normal. Born with a life-limiting heart condition, Taylor was having palliative care at home when, at the age of six, he was thrown a lifeline.

Rogue wardens working on hospital grounds have allegedly been ordered to focus on cancer wards because patients are likely to be distracted – and therefore late returning to their cars. Hospitals were last night accused of encouraging the ‘disgraceful’ tactic, with some trusts even taking a cut of up to 10 per cent of the parking firms’ huge profits. Marilyn Heald, left, was hit with a £70 fine after she stayed 13 seconds too long after having an X-ray. Linda Wallis, right, returned from taking her daughter to A&E; to find a £60 fine on her windscreen.

EXCLUSIVE: Naomi Laver, 22, from Lincolnshire (with husband Aaron), was diagnosed with Benign Joint Hypermobility Syndrome at the age of 16. The condition causes her joints to dislocate and her limbs bend the wrong way. At school she was bullied and called 'sparrow legs' because doctors dismissed her problem as being the result of growing pains. She said: 'Each day is still a struggle, my legs are getting bendier by the day and I have to choose what I want to dislocate - my legs or my arms.' She is now barely able to walk.

New Zealand born celebrity chef Ross Burden who rose to fame in the UK after appearing on Masterchef and Ready Steady Cook has passed away age 45.The TV personality, who became a household name in England after becoming a finalist on MasterChef in 1993, died on July 17 in his home nation following a battle with cancer.The popular chef was diagnosed with a form of leukemia in July last year and had contracted an infection after undergoing a bone marrow transplant. Tributes have poured in from fellow celebrity chefs including Paul Hollywood (inset, left) and James Martin (inset, right).

Nikkita Pereira, 22, from London, said her son Ziah (left) did not breathe for eight minutes, prompting doctors to declare his time of death, but a split second later the newborn began to cry. Miss Pereira, who had planned on having a natural birth, was rushed into hospital after experiencing problems while in labour. Medics detected baby Ziah's (right and inset) heartbeat was fading as the umbilical cord wrapped around his neck. But when he was removed from the womb, during an emergency C-section, the newborn was not breathing. For eight minutes doctors tried to resuscitate him before his mother said she heard them declare Ziah dead at 11.02am. She said: 'Just as I was about to give up, a miracle happened - Ziah drew a deep breath and burst into tears. When I heard him cry it felt like I was breathing again.' A spokesman for the hospital said Ziah's death was never officially recorded, adding: 'According to our records the baby was not declared dead.'

Corra Connell from Geelong, south-west of Melbourne, is bedridden. She cannot move her legs, cannot use her arms and can only communicate through slow speech. Her condition is unknown as doctors haven't been able to diagnose the illness for the last eight years. Corra's mother and carer Jen Connell says the most heartbreaking part of her eight year battle is the fact that she's been unable to show the love and affection a mother wants to show their only child.

Karen Steer, 41, from Swindon, gave birth to daughter Johren (right and inset) two-and-a-half years after her husband John (left) lost his battle with lung cancer. Mr Steer was diagnosed with the disease in 2010, and doctors warned he had between two and six months to live. While he battled life-prolonging treatment, his wife started fertility treatment to try and conceive their longed-for baby. The couple, who had been engaged for 15 years, hastily married in September 2011, but a week later he died. Two days after her husband's death Mrs Steer discovered their first attempt at IVF had failed. After four attempts, Mrs Steer conceived and in May welcomed her daughter Johren. She said: 'When she smiles her whole face smiles and I know John is with us.'

One million British children classed as healthy by the Government's official statistics are dangerously unfit, according to shocking new research. Academics warn that an epidemic of inactivity means many slim- looking children have 'hidden' fat which puts them at risk of an early death from type 2 diabetes or heart disease. They warn that a national schools strategy to monitor children's health is failing to identify many of those at risk because it does not officially class them as overweight.

It's a small but significant step for me. This summer, I will be proudly unveiling my legs in skirts, shorts and dresses for the first time in what feels like for ever. Having spent years hiding them under trousers and floor-skimming maxi dresses due to horrible lumpy varicose veins that made my calves resemble a fine stilton, I am finally liberated. And it's all thanks to cutting-edge keyhole surgery, writes EVE MCGOWAN.

Nearly two decades after her six-month-old daughter died, North Carolina's Deneen Bryan has created a charity photographing premature babies in the 100 days before they left hospital as a gift to their parents. Pictured clockwise from left: Five-month-old Noah weighed 1lb 5oz when he was born, an unknown premature baby and little Hayley who was born at 27 weeks and four days due to preeclampsia.

Kelsey Buckley, 15, from Seacroft, Leeds, is pain free and walking on a prosthesis after having her leg amputated to treat bone cancer. The teenager was diagnosed with osteosarcoma in 2011, and underwent chemotherapy before doctors removed her tibia, replacing it with a metal prosthesis. But Kelsey suffered multiple infections leading doctors to conclude amputation was her only option. She said: 'After everything I had been through it was an easy decision to make.' Her twin sister Kara, said: 'My sister is an inspiration.' Kelsey is now pain free and is learning to walk with a prosthesis.

Surgeons in New Delhi, India, operated on Roona Begum's head reducing the circumference from 37 to 23 inches last year, warning her parents she was unlikely to survive. The toddler was rushed to hospital with an extreme form of hydrocephalus (top and bottom left) - water on the brain. The condition caused Roona's head to swell to three times its normal size. A year on and doctors are amazed the three-year-old is still alive, let alone laughing and smiling for the first time (right). Her mother Fatima, 23, said she hopes her daughter will now be able to go to school. 'The doctors said she would not live - but she has survived,' she said. 'She is much better now. She can hold her head straight and she can move her head from side to side on her own. She responds to other kids and she will smile if other kids call out her name.'

Herbert Chandler died after a doctor at William Harvey Hospital in Ashford, Kent inserted a chest drain into his right lung, rather than his left. The 85-year-old had been admitted with several chronic diseases and a collapsed left lung. An inquest heard he died three hours after the operation. Coroner Rachel Redman said: 'A series of failings by the Trust have caused or contributed to the cause of death.' A trust spokesman said: 'The trust has taken this incident extremely seriously and, following a detailed investigation, has put in place a series of steps to attempt to reduce the risk of these events from occurring again.'

Jaylene Siery and her partner Peter Rule, from New South Wales in Australia, give Larisa a daily dose of the drug, claiming it has reduced her 60 seizures a day to just five. The two-year-old suffered brain damage when she was born, leaving her partially blind and deaf, and with cerebral palsy and epilepsy. From just two days old she started having up to 60 fits a day - some lasting more than an hour. Doctors tried various medications to try and stop the convulsions. But researching online her parents found a daily dose of cannabis is said to help control their daughter's symptoms. Miss Siery, who risks going to prison, said: 'I'm not a bad mother, I want nothing but good for my child. She was in pain, she was suffering, and I tried everything before I tried this.'