Health

WARNING GRAPHIC CONTENT: Darius Foreman, 13, (inset) was building a tree house when a wooden board came down on top of his head and lodged a screw in his skull (left). The screw was a millimeter away from killing the boy from Maryland when he underwent a delicate surgery (right) that saved his life.

EXCLUSIVE: Nicole El-Safty, of Clacton, Essex, claims she became 'totally motionless and unable to move' just months after being given the under-fire Gardasil vaccine (pictured before the jab she was given in March 2014, left just months after). The aspiring dancer has been forced to give up her hobby because of the side-effects from the jab, dished out freely to teenage girls by the NHS. Her story echoes concerns raised by thousands of girls across the world, who say they have suffered similar, adverse reactions to the jab. However, health officials across the globe strongly deny there are such devastating effects and warn there is not enough evidence.

Anna Gilmour (pictured left with her husband Damien, 40), 39, from Esher, Surrey, started losing weight and suffering from diarrhoea in 2015, prompting her to be diagnosed with giardiasis. After years of bloating and abdominal pain, Ms Gilmour (pictured right her seven-year-old son Sam) was relieved when they finally eased, only for the discomfort to return around 12 months later. She endured eight weeks of chemotherapy (pictured inset in hospital), as well as surgery to remove the tumour, and is now cancer free.

Katherine Acton, 47 died suddenly of flu on Wednesday, exactly one week after she was diagnosed. The mother-of-two sons, Eason and GT Abraham (center), was discussing a fall wedding with her boyfriend, Chuck Binzel (left) who found her body at their home. This week, flu deaths account for 9.1 percent of the national mortality rate, and hospitalizations have reached a record high.

Karlie Slaven, 37, (pictured) a university manager from Indiana, spent last week caring for her son and daughter (right) as they battled the virus. But as they got better she started feeling sick and on Friday she took herself to the doctor before being sent home to rest. By Sunday, her flu had progressed to pneumonia, and she passed away at 6.30am on Monday. Her husband Mike (pictured left and right), who was away on temporary deployment with the armed forces at the time, was summoned back to her bedside along with father Karl to say a final goodbye. Her death comes amid one of the most active flu years on record, with an unprecedented rate of people with influenza this week.

Brooke Schilling, 37, from New York, relied on a walker and was barely able to move due to her spine protruding (left) before the life-changing operation (right), which saw a robot guide a surgeon to insert rods into her back. The surgery could have left her paralyzed but was successful and now the wife and mother-of-one can go to the gym, stand tall and raise her four-year-old daughter (inset).

Gemma Anderson (left), 34, from South Shields, was diagnosed with cervical cancer in 2016 after having her first screening at 32. She had no unusual symptoms but was urged by her husband (pictured right) to have the check up. After being diagnosed, she was forced to have her uterus removed and is considering starting a family with her husband via surrogacy or adoption.

Researchers from Imperial College London found the force of babies' kicks peak (left) at 10.5lb (4.76kg), 30 weeks into their mothers' pregnancies. Past research suggests foetal kicks, which are usually felt by pregnant women (right) at 16-to-18 weeks, are critical in the development of babies' joints, muscles and nerves.

Edie Molyneux (left and right), from Tranmere, will likely die young because of the rare mass on her brain, known as a diffuse intrinsic pontine glioma. Her devastated parents, Ashleigh and Stephen (pictured inset), are now trying to raise £300,000 for pioneering treatment in Mexico to boost her hopes of survival. They released the gut-wrenching clip, posted on their Facebook awareness page, to highlight the effects of the deadly brain tumour. The minute-long footage shows Edie, who is half-way through treatment in Mexico, being spoon-fed yoghurt by Mrs Molyneux, because she struggles to eat it herself.

Charlotte Palermino, a 30-year-old writer living in Brooklyn, has detailed what it was like to go on an elimination diet where she only ate pasta for a week. Having suffered from an eating disorder in her teens, she now sees food as a celebration and not about anxiety and calorie counting so wanted to test if the current theory about gluten, carbs and dairy being bad first hand. During the experiment, she found she had boundless energy, was able to work out more than usual and also lost five pounds in total.

Despite Callum Hardyman (left and right), 19, undergoing a nine-hour operation at Nottingham's Queen's Medical Centre to remove 75 per cent of the tumour (inset after the procedure, showing his scar), doctors are only able to extend his life, not cure his condition. His mother Tricia, 42, said: 'The tumour is terminal, Callum will die. I wish there was something, anything, I could do. Feeling that you can, ultimately, do nothing to help your child is so difficult.'

Two monkeys (top left image) have followed in the footsteps of Dolly the Sheep by becoming the world's first primates to be cloned from transferred DNA. Identical long-tailed macaques Zhong Zhong (right image) and Hua Hua (bottom left image) were born eight and six weeks ago respectively at a laboratory in China. The aim of the scientists was to pave the way for populations of genetically uniform monkeys that can be customised for ground-breaking research into human diseases. The success marks a watershed in cloning research and raises major ethical questions. The cloning of monkeys will be seen by some as a step toward the creation of human clones. The breakthrough was made by the Chinese Academy of Sciences Institute of Neuroscience in Shanghai.

Liam Flanagan (pictured), a second-grader who loved cycling and animals, crashed his bike as he rode down his family's hill in Spring Creek, Oregon, on Saturday January 13. The handlebar sliced through his jeans, and he was whisked to hospital for stitches. But days later at home, Liam was in excruciating pain, and discovered a 'purplish-red and gangrenous looking' swell on his groin. He was admitted to hospital (right) on Wednesday, where he was diagnosed with necrotizing fasciitis, one of the most deadly bacteria which is fatal in 30 percent of cases. Despite four major operations at three different hospitals, the infection was too aggressive, and on Sunday night he died.

Jake Honig, seven, (left) died from rare bone cancer on Sunday after a five-year battle. His death inspired New Jersey Governor Phil Murphy (right, seated) to sign an executive order on Tuesday to expand access to medical marijuana. Jake's mother, father and sister (right) were invited to the press conference where they stood alongside the governor holding a photo of Jake as he signed the executive order.

An adorable amputee born with the ultra-rare elephant man condition is defying the odds to live against terminal 'months to live' prognosis for the past three years. Trey Mills (right with his mother), from Harlem in Georgia, has Proteus syndrome, which causes his organs, bones, skin, tissue and blood vessels to grow larger than normal at an accelerated rate.  For Trey, six, his left-side is most affected with his leg growing four inches longer and foot (inset) four shoe sizes bigger than the other. Pain from having to drag around a dramatically longer limb meant in 2013 surgeons amputated at the knee (left) and a year later due to additional growth they removed his ring finger. On top of this, the youngster's mother Summer Widener (right, left) was told three years ago her son only had three months to live due to a terminal lung disease - but he is battling on with a smile on his face.

Instagram fitness stars have shared with FEMAIL Food&Drink; the contents of their fridges with revealing 'shelfies' and they are predictably wholesome, featuring a lot of avocado, lean meats and houmous. Influencers including Chessie King (right) and Steph Elswood (left) took part to reveal their very saintly fridges.

Lisa Beardsley (pictured now, right, and before, left), from Scunthorpe, claims damaged nerves mean most of the time she looks 'like a miserable cow'. She had thought nothing of tiny marks on her neck - until two weeks later when her face started to droop. Fearing she was having a stroke, she called an ambulance and was taken to hospital where she lost the ability to talk, eat, drink and smile over four hours. Doctors discovered the single mother-of-two had harboured the chicken pox virus, which lay dormant for years until it randomly flared up, leading to the facial paralysis (pictured days after her diagnosis, inset). She had to consume a liquid diet using a straw, and was unable to blink for six months, forcing her to wear an eye patch. The good-humoured support worker is slowly recovering, but admits the damaged nerves mean she 'winks' when she tries to smile.

Photographer Nan Goldin (pictured) is petitioning fellow artists to boycott donations from the Sackler family (pictured: Raymond Sackler, founder of Purdue Pharmaceuticals, and his wife Beverly). Nan's petition is an effort to hold their company, Purdue Pharmaceuticals, accountable for their role in the opioid epidemic, which claimed more than 63,000 lives in one year alone. Other members of the family have contributed large sums of money to the arts, but, having recovered from her own opioid addiction, Goldin wants to send a clear message to the billionaire family that she believes they have a conflict of interest. The current Sackler generation, including art-involved philanthropist Elizabeth Sackler, has attempted to distance themselves from the older, now-deceased generation which was involved in pharmaceuticals. 

An expert from Nationwide Children's Hospital in Ohio explains how Tide Pods burn organs as they travel through the body, injuring nearly 40 people who partook in the viral detergent eating challenge so far this year. The corrosive chemicals are so highly concentrated in the packets that even inhaling or swallowing a small amount can burn the mouth, lungs and esophagus.