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A 10-year-old girl’s life has been transformed after surgeons removed a tumour weighing more than three kilos from her abdomen. Eliana Mann is said to be like a “new child” after the rare growth — which had reached the size of a small football — was taken out in a nine-hour operation. Before it was [...]

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Terminally-ill Australian Shaun Wilson-Miller, 17, has become an internet sensation after accidentally posting a heartbreaking and inspirational farewell message to the world on YouTube. Shaun, who has been told by doctors he does not have long left to live after his body rejected a SECOND heart transplant, was only trying to post his tragic goodbye [...]

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Rhys Watkins is just 11 years old but he has been forced to battle cancer twice in little over a year. His latest operation, in the week before Christmas, was to remove a very aggressive, tennis ball-sized tumour from his lung. His family were not expecting him home in time for Christmas Day. However, he [...]

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A nine-year-old boy is dying from a rare form of brain cancer after telling his mother to stop his painful treatments after battling the disease for five years. Ryan Kennedy, from Clarkston, Michigan, has undergone seven surgeries, two rounds of radiation and four different kinds of chemo since he was diagnosed with ependymoma at the [...]

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The vast majority of UK adults [84 per cent] think children should be protected from marketing by tobacco companies, according to new research by Cancer Research UK. Four out five people believe tobacco marketing is harmful to children, while more than two thirds agree that eye catching logs, colourful and distinctive branding on packets make [...]

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A video of cancer-stricken kids singing along to Kelly Clarkson’s hit song Stronger has become an internet sensation with over one million views. The shoot was set up by Chris Rumble, a regular twenty-something from Seattle with a passion for hockey and making amateur movies. Until, that is, he was suddenly diagnosed with leukaemia, which [...]

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Three times in three days, Jodie Conlay took her baby son Lewis for urgent treatment convinced he was suffering from more than just chickenpox. On each occasion the frantic mother was sent away by doctors. The morning after the final hospital visit, 12-month-old Lewis was found dead in his bed. In addition to the chickenpox, [...]

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Lewis Mullins, who had just turned one, had been suffering from a severe attack of chickenpox. He was examined by a GP at an NHS walk-in centre and then twice by hospital doctors within the space of three days after he started to run a high temperature, developed a different rash on his face and mouth, [...]

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If she could have had any wish in the world, it would have been to rid her youngest son of the incurable disease that would take him from her after only five years. Realizing this was impossible, Carisa Rockers, from Kansas, settled for the next best thing – she wished her son Tadan could see, [...]

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More than 200 cases of measles are confirmed on Merseyside in the largest outbreak in the area since 1988, the Health Protection Agency has said. There are 210 confirmed cases, 39 of which needed hospital treatment. Ninety two cases are under investigation. About 50% of the cases are in children under five years old. The [...]

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A quarter of young people with cancer visited GPs four times or more before their symptoms were taken seriously and they were referred to a specialist, according to research. A survey at a Teenage Cancer Trustconference for 300 young cancer patients asked for the experiences of 13- to 24-year-olds after they first experienced symptoms. The [...]

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Holding your newborn baby is supposed to be one of the most magical moments of your life. But a couple from Kendal were horrified when their daughter was born with a huge liver tumour that had remained undetected throughout the pregnancy. Sophie and Steven Longcake only had a few seconds to hold their daughter Poppy [...]

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Like any young boy, Noah Edwards loves a bit of rough and tumble with his friends. But the four-year-old must wear a crash helmet when he plays after he was diagnosed with a rare blood condition. The platelet function disorder means even the slightest bump can cause severe bruising. If Noah cuts himself he bleeds [...]

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Those weighing over 4.0kg (8.8lb) at birth are 16 per cent more likely to be diagnosed with a form childhood cancer by the age of 14 than those weighing 3.0kg to 3.5kg (6.6lb to 7.7lb), found Oxford University academics. The average baby weighs about 3.2kg (7.1lb) and about one in 10 weighs more than 4.0kg. Dr Kate [...]

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French researchers say they have for the first time found a link between drugs given to stimulate the ovaries of women before they have fertility treatment and an increased risk of leukaemia in their children. Initial findings, presented at a conference in London, found that the use of ovarian stimulation drugs was associated with more [...]

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Every year tens of thousands of women in Britain undergo fertility treatment, that usually involves them receiving drugs to prompt their ovaries into producing more eggs. More than 13,000 babies are born annually thanks to assisted fertility technology. No study has yet found convincing evidence suggesting that fertility treatment leads to babies that are any less [...]

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There have been 665 confirmed cases of whooping cough, which gets its name from the distinctive sound of the cough, so far this year, compared with 1,040 in the whole of last year, according to data from the Health Protection Agency. Cases have been reported across all regions in England with some areas reporting clusters [...]

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A London hospital has lost its legal bid to save a children’s heart unit after the Court of Appeal ruled that the national review recommending its closure was in fact lawful. The Royal Brompton Hospital had temporarily derailed NHS plans to concentrate children’s heart surgery in fewer hospitals after a judge found the ‘Safer and [...]

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A London hospital has lost its legal bid to save a children’s heart unit after the Court of Appeal ruled that the national review recommending its closure was in fact lawful. The Royal Brompton Hospital had temporarily derailed NHS plans to concentrate children’s heart surgery in fewer hospitals after a judge found the ‘Safer and [...]

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One of Britain’s top heart doctors says he thinks anyone playing sport regularly should be screened for heart defects. At the moment only top flight athletes are forced to be tested. Sanjay Sharma is a professor of cardiology at St George’s Hospital in south London. “We know that one in 300 young people in the [...]

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Prenatal exposure to inner-city air pollution is linked to childhood obesity, claims study A study of pregnant women and their children in New York City has provided clinical evidence that links environmental pollution with childhood obesity. The most up-to-date statistics show that 17 per cent of children in the U.S. are obese, and that figure [...]

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Parents should ‘send children to school with sniffles’ Parents are sometime overzealous in keeping their child off sick and should send them to school if they have the sniffles, the Government’s behaviour tsar said today. Charlie Taylor also called for a clampdown on term time holidays warning that youngsters who regularly have time off can [...]

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After Rosanna Ogden had open heart surgery at only six weeks old, her parents were told that physical activity could help her recovery. It was then they discovered they had a water baby on their hands. Only ten weeks after the operation, her mother Sanam took her to a swimming session for infants. ‘She is [...]

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A boy of 19 months died despite being seen by four doctors in three days, an inquest heard yesterday. Harry Connolly’s parents begged for their son to be kept in hospital after he was admitted suffering severe diarrhoea and dehydration. But doctors there failed to carry out vital tests on the toddler, instead dismissing his [...]

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A mother has revealed how she discovered both her daughters have an incredibly rare condition that is slowly turning their organs into crystal. Jessica Kemp, was eight months pregnant with Poppy-Mae, when doctors diagnosed her first daughter Emily with the devastating disease cystinosis, It is an incurable condition that only affects 2,000 people in the [...]

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A three-year-old boy has been kept alive with an artificial heart for 251 days – longer than any other child in the UK. Joe Skerratt underwent a successful heart transplant at Great Ormond Street Hospital last year and is now the picture of health. But it was touch and go for the youngster who was [...]

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When she arrived at school to find her tearful six-year-old son standing next to an exhausted teacher, Crette Berry’s heart sank. It was last June and the second time she had been called to collect Taylor in as little as a fortnight. Once again, his uncontrollable behaviour had pushed his teachers to their limit. Barely [...]

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A mother has revealed how her son’s life-threatening brain tumour was spotted thanks to a routine eye-check up. Little Joel Sheldon was booked in to see a specialist about his rare condition called heterochromia, which causes both eyes to be different colours. But immediately after the appointment he was rushed to Birmingham Children’s Hospital, as medics [...]

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A Manchester family are rallying support to save their daughter’s face with a pioneering US procedure. A year ago, three-year-old Maha Asghar was diagnosed with Parry-Romberg syndrome, a rare facial disorder affecting one in a million people. The disorder means her immune system is turning on itself and beginning to destroy her face. The family [...]

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In the north of Uganda, thousands of children have fallen ill with a fatal, incurable disease known as nodding disease. Communities are starting to panic and some people are losing hope as the medical community struggles to either find a cause or a cure, as the BBC’s Will Ross reports. Driving through villages of Uganda’s [...]

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A chronically ill schoolgirl has been given a new lease of life after both her mum and her dad each donated part of their lungs for a rare live transplant operation. Tugce Basar, 15, suffers from Cystic Fibrosis which causes inflammation of the airways. The teenager had been hospitalised for nearly a year in Istanbul, [...]

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When she lost her toes and part of her feet to meningitis, Ava Bainbridge had barely even learned how to walk. More than a year later, the two-year-old is ready to try again – thanks to a unique pair of slippers. The prosthetics are the first to be made for someone so young, and were [...]

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Many pre-teen boys have an unimaginative diet, but for one young man a simplistic menu is not a matter of choice, but of life and death. Nine-year-old Joshua from New York suffers from a rare disease called eosinophilic esophagitis which means that he is fatally allergic to nearly all foods. Pizza, hot dogs, peanut butter [...]

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At six weeks old, Meg Devereux-Roberts smiled. But since then, she has not met a single developmental milestone on time. She has never spoken, couldn’t sit up until she was two, or crawl until she was three. Now 14, Meg is blind, suffers from epileptic seizures and cannot walk. She requires round-the-clock care from her [...]

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Today’s children may be too clean for their own good, research suggests. Evidence is growing that dirt and germs can protect against disease – and that our indoor-based, ultra-clean lifestyles are bad for our health. According to the hygiene hypothesis, asthma, eczema, hay fever and childhood diabetes are all being fuelled by childhoods in which [...]

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A mother has revealed how she has had to bring her son back from the brink of death five times in a year due to his rare heart condition. Three-year-old Aaron Sweeney’s heart can stop for up to seven minutes each time he suffers a collapse. He is only alive thanks to his mother Jolaine [...]

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The latest technology is helping kids with diabetes keep an eye on their blood sugar levels. There are at least 29,000 kids in the country who have type 1 diabetes. It means their body doesn’t keep track of the amount of sugar in their blood and if it’s not monitored it can be quite dangerous. [...]

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The Duchess proved a natural at the delicate task of chatting to terminally ill children and their families on a day of laughter and tears as she opened the hospice in Ipswich, Suffolk. The visit to The Treehouse, part of the East Anglia’s Children’s Hospices charity (EACH), of which the Duchess is patron, was marked [...]

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The Duchess said she was “deeply moved” by the work of staff at the children’s hospice as she arrived to open the building in Ipswich this morning. She delivered her maiden speech and then met children and their families who use the centre, as well as staff and joined in with youngsters in their music [...]

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A key milestone in the struggle to reshape the National Health Service is reached today as two NHS organisations square up in court over the future of children’s heart surgery in London. One in five NHS trusts is struggling to survive in the tough economic climate and the National Audit Office concluded last October that [...]

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The latest round of legal action over closure proposals for a leading hospital’s children’s heart unit has reached the Court of Appeal. Last November the Royal Brompton Hospital in Chelsea, west London, won a High Court battle over a consultation exercise which led to proposals to close the unit down. The hospital says its future [...]

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A sick little girl is being kept alive thanks to her best friend – a dog who carries her oxygen tank on her back. Alida Knobloch’s faithful canine companion Mr Gibbs has been specially trained to shepherd the three-year-old, who breathes though a tube most of the time. He follows her closely as she plays [...]

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Campaigners in Tanzania have criticised some schools for making HIV-positive pupils wear a red ribbon on their uniforms. The headmaster of one school told the BBC it was done at the parents’ request to ensure that all sickly pupils do not do tasks that may affect their health. But such stigmatisation was against the law, [...]

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A pupil at a Belfast primary school is being treated for tuberculosis. The Public Health Agency (PHA) has confirmed that a pupil at St Joseph’s Primary School in Slate Street has the disease. An information letter and TB fact sheet have been sent to pupils at the school as a precautionary measure. School principal Margaret [...]

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When his son was diagnosed with a rare medical condition that attacked his kidneys, Duane Harvard, 51, didn’t think twice about donating one of his own. But his grateful 10-year-old son Raphael has nicknamed him ‘Superdad’ as a result. ‘I don’t think of that, it was a privilege, an honour, it’s the least I could [...]

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A boy of five has fought back to health after emergency surgery to treat a brain tumour. His recovery is all the more remarkable because the tumour was previously misdiagnosed by doctors who believed his frequent illnesses were down to a “tummy bug”. Callum Small was taken to Great Ormond Street Hospital when a scan [...]

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A 14-year-old school girl fitted with a life-saving heart implant has revealed how it nearly killed her instead. Mirren Terry was fitted with a defibrillator when she suffered a heart attack at the age of 10. It is meant to re start her heart by using the stimulus of an electrical pulse. Mirren, 14, made [...]

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It’s been a long, lonely winter for Abbie Tully. The 12-year-old, who lives in Bournemouth, has been forced to spend the last five months stuck indoors because a rare allergy to the cold could kill her. She only developed the condition cold urticaria in November last year but since then she has been unable to [...]

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Little Hayley Okines was told she would not live beyond the age of 13. The youngster suffers from a rare disease called progeria which turns children old before they have reached their teens. But now having celebrated her 14th birthday she has defied all odds and to celebrate she has published her autobiography. Like any [...]

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It is deadly and indiscriminate. And it is killing children across northern Uganda and South Sudan. But I’m not talking about Joseph Kony’s Lord’s Resistance Army which, despite its sudden brush with global infamy, has not been seriously active inside Uganda for some six years. I’m referring instead to a mysterious disease that I first [...]

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