Health News

Heather Armstrong (pictured) dealt with depression for the better part of her 43 years, regardless of motherhood and blogging success - until she enrolled in a clinical trial that would make her 'die' 10 times. Despite career and personal ups and downs, Armstrong, who lives in Utah with her two daughters, Leta, 15 (pictured, right), and Marlo, nine (not pictured), was always haunted by depression, including postpartum depression that kept her up for days. She tried over 10 medications and inpatient treatment. But a clinical trial using propofol to make her all but brain dead for 15 minutes, 10 times in a week has brought her back to the land of the living, she reveals in her new book, The Valedictorian of Being Dead (inset).

Josh Hader, 28 (left and right, with his family), from Guthrie, Oklahoma, was home in March when he cracked his neck, which felt sore. Suddenly, his left side felt numb and he couldn't walk straight, so his father-in-law rushed him to the ER. Doctors found that cracking his neck had caused an artery leading to his brain to tear, which caused his stroke (inset). Hader was in the ICU for five days and spent a week-and-a-half in inpatient rehabilitation. The stroke didn't affect Hader's cognitive function, speech or swallowing, but he still struggles with balance and blurry vision.

Harper Comparin, two (left and right), from St Petersburg, Florida, was diagnosed with spina bifida before she was born. Spina bifida is a birth defect that occurs when the spinal cord doesn't form properly, which can cause walking and mobility problems. Harper's physical therapist used Baby Shark, the children's song about a family of sharks, as a metronome. The toddler learned to walk to the beat of the 'doo doo doo doo' chant that plays throughout the song.

Now, Muscular Dystrophy UK and Spinal Muscular Atrophy UK are demanding urgent action to break the deadlock and allow doctors to dish out Spinraza (inset). A mother has today said it is 'unthinkable' that patients with spinal muscular atrophy are still unable to access Spinraza. Dr Sheonad MacFarlane's daughter, Eilidh (pictured together left), 10, has SMA type 2. She is able to get the drug because it is approved for use in Scotland. However, Dr MacFarlane, from Glasgow, said her heart goes out to families in England, Wales and Northern Ireland who can't the drug, such as Matilda Jamieson (right), from York.

Gisella Gillett (left), 61, suffered headaches and repeated infections after her dentist performed work to replace old bridgework. However, the work was so poor that one of her teeth fell out and her remaining implants had to be surgically removed from her gums. She has now been awarded six figures in compensation, after the dentist agreed an out-of-court settlement, having denied all liability (right, the implants that were left in her mouth, and inset, the swelling she suffered)

Opal Trimble, seven months (right), of Shawnee, Oklahoma, came down with a cold in February but, after a few days, she couldn't move her arms or legs. She was rushed to the hospital where she was diagnosed with acute flaccid myelitis. The rare disease affects the nervous system and most resembles the polio virus. Most children regain movement but, in some cases, they are required to be on respirators and could even die from neurological complications. Opal's father, John, thumped on his chest with his fist as he was saying goodbye to her one day to let his infant daughter know she was always in his heart (left). Immediately, Opal mimicked the move and beat her chest as well.

You might be careful to keep your children away from sharp surfaces, computers and steep stairs. But there are plenty of less obvious dangers lurking in your home that could hurt - or even kill - your children. From changing tables to blinds and toys, it can be easy to overlook some of the home's most dangerous hazards. So what are they? (stock images pictured).

Karolina Jasko, 21 (left and right), from Chicago, Illinois, saw a black line running down her thumbnail during a nail appointment in December 2016, but brushed it off as a bruise. One week later, when her finger began swelling and turning red (inset), she visited the doctor, fearing she contracted an infection from the nail salon. Jasko was diagnosed with nail melanoma, or subungual melanoma, is a cancer that occurs in the tissues of the nail bed. She had surgery to remove the whole nail matrix and had a skin graft taking from her groin area to cover the area where her nail used to be. Jasko, who competed the 2018 Miss USA pageant as Miss Illinois, now is working to promote skin cancer awareness.

An investigation into maternity units at Cwm Taf University Health Board, which has two hospitals in South Wales, raised 'significant concerns'. Monique Aziz (see left), from Coed-Ely, Rhondda Cynon Taff, is demanding answers after her baby son died days after leaving hospital. Pictured right, Ms Aziz during pregnancy.

The 45-year-old from Lisbon was being treated for bowel cancer with the drug cetuximab. She found her eyelashes grew rapidly in three weeks (see right), Portuguese doctors wrote in BMJ Case Reports. Although she was complimented, she needed them trimmed because they were itchy and caused infection (see left. after having them trimmed).

Susie Rabaca, 36, is back on the search for a bone marrow donor. The California mother-of three was diagnosed with leukemia last September while pregnant with twins. She needed a bone marrow transplant but couldn't find a match among her family nor 300 million registered donors. After a worldwide search, she found a match in December, when she also gave birth to twins Ryan and Rainy. But just months after her January transplant, Rabaca's cancer is back and she must search once more for a bone marrow donor.

Kayleigh McEnany, (left and right) national press secretary for President Donald Trump's 2020 reelection campaign, has a family history of breast cancer. She learned she tested positive for a genetic mutation for the BRCA2 gene in 2009 at age 21. After 10 years of aggressive surveillance, she decided to undergo a double prophylactic mastectomy, which is a surgery to remove both breasts. She had the procedure done last May at Moffitt Cancer Center in Tampa, Florida. McEnany said she doesn't regret her decision and wants to inspire other women to not fear the surgery.

Rosie Paltridge, 19, had sections of her vertebrae fused together on June 4 2015 after suffering from scoliosis that left her in a back brace since she was just 12 years old. Doctors inserted three rods to realign her backbone, which was curved in three different places by 17°, 63° and 42°. With the operation seemingly going to plan, Miss Paltridge's pain returned since six months later. In June 2016 she was diagnosed with a staphylococcus infection, which is thought to have come from the 'metal hardware'. Thinking the worst was over, Miss Paltridge (pictured top inset after the ordeal) was horrified when she heard a loud 'crack' while sneezing in March 2017, with one of her remaining rods snapping. Miss Paltridge, of Rocklin, California, is pictured right under anaesthesia for one of three PICC lines that administered antibiotics into her bloodstream and left showing off the scars of her operations. The bottom X-ray inset shows the extent of her curved spine on the left and how spinal fusion initially helped to realign her backbone on the right.

Chloe Storer, 34, was shocked when she noticed that her face of her son Jake Meikle, now 16-months-old, was drooping on the right side (pictured right, the photo, and left, the two together recently). Jake had already been back and forth to hospital appointments having genetic testing since birth after he was born five weeks prematurely. Jake was diagnosed with micro duplication 1q21.1, which is so rare that only 200 people are diagnosed with worldwide, according to a charity database. Medics are still trying to understand how Jake will be affected, but it can cause facial paralysis, learning difficulties, heart conditions and hearing loss.

Oakley Yoder, 10 (with her parents, left and right), from Bloomington, Indiana, was bitten on the toe by a copperhead snake during summer camp in July 2018. She was airlifted to St Vincent Evansville, where she was given four vials of antivenom, and then transferred to Riley Children's Hospital for observation. Her parents received medical bills for Oakley's care that totaled $142,938. Bills included more than $55,500 charged for the air ambulance (inset) and $67,000 for the vials of antivenom. The family's insurance company negotiated the bills down and paid $107,800, and Oakley's parents didn't have to pay any out-of-pocket costs.

A 33-year-old woman from Brisbane has revealed how a simple switch of her contraceptive pill triggered the loss of 70 per cent of her hair. Kellie Scott lives with androgenic alopecia - an incurable form of female pattern hair loss that causes extreme thinning mainly around the hair's natural parting (left, now with clip-in extensions, centre, before hair loss, and right, after hair loss). Kellie revealed to FEMAIL how losing her hair felt as though she had 'lost part of my identity', before she 'took control' of her hair loss and started wearing hair pieces to help re-instill self-confidence. 'I found it really hard,' Kellie told Daily Mail Australia. 'As women, we're told men prefer long hair. I am not only battling with hair loss, but the stigma of being a woman and losing my hair.'

Kelly Barendt, 26 (left and right), from Strongsville, Ohio, referred to herself as clumsy for years. She struggled to walk while carrying a drink and held onto railings for fear of falling. At age 18, her primary care physician referred her to a neurologist, who diagnosed Barendt with Friedreich's Ataxia. FA is a rare genetic disease that affects the nervous system and causes a progressive loss of movement. Barendt uses a walker and a wheelchair to get around and has begun a blog to raise awareness of the disease.

Sara Blum (pictured) blames low vaccination rates among her California community for allowing her son, Walter, to be exposed to and sickened by measles when he was just shy of five months old - too young for the measles shot. If enough members of a population are vaccinated - between 90 and 95 percent - those too sick or too young, like Walter, should be protected by 'herd immunity,' but that was not the case for Walter, who has since recovered.

Hannah Vaughn Setzer, 28, of Virginia (pictured, right, with her husband), can't close her eyes or shut her mouth - after doctors accidentally 'scooped out' her facial nerves as a baby - is the subject of stares, taunts and sneers. But she insists she is willing to take it all if her exposure means more people are aware of disabilities like hers. She was born with cystic hygroma, a condition where multiple cysts grow - which has left her with 'literally thousands' of them in her head and neck. During one of her many surgeries after birth, she claims doctors were scooping handfuls of cysts out of her head when they accidentally removed some of her facial nerves - leaving her unable to smile.

Martin Kristiansen shot the footage of his semen, magnified up to 1,000 times, to give an insight into the world of reproductive cells. His recording shows thousands of the tiny cells darting back and forth full of life. The biomedicine student at Aalborg University in Denmark is using the footage as part of a research project. Mr Kristiansen posted the video on his YouTube channel, My Microscopic World, alongside a series of similar videos showing wonders of micoorganisms in our every day life.

Charlotte Atkinson, of Greenwich, south east London, suffers with premenstrual dysphoric disorder (PMDD) an ultra-severe form of premenstrual syndrome (PMS) which causes anxiety, depression and, at its worst, psychosis or suicidal thoughts. It's only become a recognised psychological condition within the past decade, and could be caused by genetics. Miss Atkinson has to put her life on hold every month after a diagnosis, and fears passing the condition on to her daughter. (See left, on a good day, and right, on a bad day).

Abigayle Galle, now two, put the battery in her mouth on July 18. Her father Jeff Galle, 26, watched in horror as the then 15-month-old retched and screamed out in pain, with him being oblivious to what had just happened. The youngster (pictured left after the ordeal) was rushed to A&E;, where an X-ray revealed she had swallowed a circular object (seen bottom right), which doctors initially believed to be a coin. After it was discovered to be a battery, Abigayle spent two-and-a-half weeks on a feeding tube (seen top right). Now home, she still suffers from breathing and digestive difficulties.

Nicky Jones, 35, from Holyhead, Wales, has been deaf since she was a baby after contracting measles. Here, she tells her compelling story as it's revealed half a million UK children did not receive their measles jab between 2010- 2017.

Jessica Purcell, 36, of St Petersburg, Florida, was diagnosed with breast cancer in August 2018 when she was nine weeks pregnant. She had a mastectomy in October, when doctors discovered the cancer had spread to her lymph nodes. Purcell had to undergo chemotherapy, and she gave birth to her son in March 2019 (right), during round 12. She asked for breast milk donations because chemotherapy drugs interfere with the normal division of cells, which can harm a growing infant. Last week, after 16 rounds of chemotherapy, Purcell rang the bell at Moffitt Cancer Center that signified the end of her treatment (left)

The Mail has teamed up with experts at St John Ambulance to produce a series of guides on first aid, launching this Saturday with a handy 24-page booklet, and continuing next week with advice for babies and children, older people, holiday emergencies and when playing sport.

Michelle Oddy, 43, from Derbyshire, gave birth to her daughter, Kiera, via C-section ten years prior to when her health nightmare started in 2014. Mrs Oddy woke up one morning to find her insides bursting out of her scar which had been caused by a complication of her Crohn's disease. With multiple organ failure due to so many operations, a colostomy bag and feeding tubes constantly becoming infected, doctors are running out of options. The complex surgery comes with risks - there is a 35 per cent change Mrs Oddy will not wake up from the 20-hour operation (pictured left at her home with her colostomy bag, right in hospital when her weight dropped to four stone and inset, the hole in her stomach)

Caitlin Little, 16 (left and right), from Greensboro, North Carolina, was hit on the head during cross-country practice in October 2017. She was diagnosed with anterograde amnesia, which is the inability to create new memories after the event that caused amnesia. Her brain resets as she sleeps at night, causing her to forget her memories from the previous day. Doctors have been unable to find a cure, and Cailtin is now in Texas undergoing new treatment to help her regain her memory.

The journalist, from Sidcup, suffered poor body confidence issues since adolescence, but now he's a new man after a treatment froze fat to the point of cell death. After just two sessions, the problem he endured for decades was radically altered — and he's lost two to three inches around his chest.

Madeline Roberts, 24, from Tennessee, first developed cystic acne at the age of 14. The condition left her terrified of dating and feeling unworthy of love. It was only meeting now-husband Trevor that helped her learn to love herself (inset). Now, she posts barefaced selfies online to help encourage other women to embrace their skin

The capsule is taken 20 minutes before meals and enlarges to make the dieter feel too full to eat any more. It could be available over the counter in UK chemists by next year. It fills up a quarter of the stomach by absorbing water. Scientists asked 223 people to take three of the pills before lunch and dinner, while on a moderate diet – eating 300 fewer calories a day. Compared to more than 200 people taking useless sugar pills, those on the slimming pills were twice as likely to lose five per cent or more of their body weight.