Sheffield parents to run London Marathon for daughter with leukeamia
Billie was just 21 months old when she came down with what appeared to be a sickness bug. Mr Harpham said: "She'd been vomiting for two days, so we rang the GP who told us to take her straight to A&E. "They said it was just gastroenteritis and she would get over it soon." However, over the next few weeks Billie started to experience other symptoms, including a high temperature, bruising, and a cough.When Billie started to struggle with breathing, her parents rushed her back to hospital and in November 2022 Billie was diagnosed with ALL - rare type of blood cancer, most often diagnosed in children aged 0-4 years. "I felt like the world was about to end. I knew deep down something was wrong with her, but we never expected that," Ms Harpham said. "She went through two-and-a-half years of treatment and finished in February this year. "She is doing really well now, but one of the chemotherapies that Billie received paralysed her vocal chords, so she ended up having to have a tracheostomy which she has still got now. "It has got to stay for the moment, but she is fine now, she is doing really well and she is the happiest little girl in the world."
Ms Harpham and Mr Turner will be among 32 people running the marathon for the charity.Russell Benson, Community and Challenge Events Manager at Leukaemia UK, said: "We are so grateful to our amazing supporters running the London Marathon for us this Sunday and cannot wait to cheer them on. "Their incredible support will help Leukaemia UK fund ground-breaking research into kinder and more effective treatments to stop leukaemia from devastating lives."The charity said blood cancer, of which leukaemia is a type, is the fifth most common type of cancer and the third biggest cancer killer in the UK.
Listen to highlights from South Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Daily Mirror
13 hours ago
- Daily Mirror
Flight attendants always refuse one drink on planes and passengers should do the same
Airline experts have urged passengers to avoid ordering one common drink while onboard a flight as it can lead to serious illness - and what you can order instead For many, ordering a drink during a flight is a normal ritual, however, there is one beverage all flight attendants would always swerve even when it's free and experts say passengers might want to think twice before ordering it. According to Experience Travel Group, a travel expert that shares insights from frequent flyers and aviation professionals, understanding what crew avoid - and why, as it can help passengers make more informed in-flight choices. Ordering a fizzy drink, a coffee or a fruit juice are pretty popular, but it's tap water most travel experts will always avoid. The onboard water used for tea, coffee, or plain drinking water usually comes from the aircraft's water tanks rather than bottled sources. 'Most beautiful' Italian town is frozen in time with hardly any tourists Flight attendants are aware of how these tanks are maintained and refilled, and some have seen maintenance reports or experienced issues first-hand, and as a result, they will often choose bottled water or drinks made from it, even on long-haul flights. This is due to the water tanks not being refilled after each flight, and despite being in line with airline regulations, studies have found that bacteria can sometimes still be present in the system. In 2019, a study on airline water quality found that some samples contained bacteria such as coliforms and, in rare cases, E. coli according to Experience Travel Group and while these findings did not necessarily mean the water failed to meet basic safety standards, they were enough for many crew to choose bottled options instead. So if you do want some water, one top tip taken by f light attendants is to carry their own reusable bottles, filling them with bottled water provided onboard or from supplies purchased before the flight. Many also opt for canned drinks or sealed juices when working long hours in the air. 'Flight attendants know the plane's water system better than anyone, and many simply feel more comfortable with bottled drinks. For passengers, this means if you're offered water, it's worth checking whether it's bottled or from the tap,' the spokesperson explained. So You can request bottled water onboard, but for tea and coffee drinkers, they should be aware the hot water used often comes from the same onboard tanks. While boiling kills most bacteria, it does not remove any metallic taste or odour that can occur. Passengers with weaker immune systems - such as young children, older travellers, or those with certain health conditions - may be more sensitive to contaminants, so bottled water can be the safer choice.
The Guardian
a day ago
- The Guardian
Figures gathered from NHS trusts reveal A&E ‘Uber ambulance crisis' in England
Growing numbers of patients are finding their own way to A&E instead of taking ambulances with nearly 2.7 million people making their own way to emergency departments last year. The figure is a 14% increase from 2.36 million in 2019, and highlights the number of people losing faith in ambulance services, the Liberal Democrats have warned, after gathering the data from NHS trusts. 'These figures lay bare an Uber ambulance crisis, where people do not think they can rely on ambulance services even in the most serious of circumstances. This could have deadly consequences if people have lost faith that ambulances will be there when they need them,' said Helen Morgan MP, the Liberal Democrat health and social care spokesperson. The Lib Dems called on the government to invest £50m each year into an emergency fund to ensure community ambulance stations do not close and to recruit and train paramedics. The numbers obtained by the Lib Dems through freedom of information requests to NHS trusts showed the highest rise in Sandwell and West Birmingham, where there was a 320% increase in the number of people arriving at A&E without an ambulance compared to 2019. The numbers of people taking taxis or other forms of transport to a hospital did rely on the severity of their condition. Code 1 incidents – the most severe category for those needing immediate medical attention – saw a 24% drop in the number of people arriving without an ambulance compared to 2019. There was a rise however of 54% in code 2 incidents, where patients require urgent attention. The Association of Ambulance Chief Executives said there can be times when it was appropriate for patients to make their own way to hospital, so that those with the most severe conditions could be prioritised. 'Current data proves that NHS ambulance services have never been busier answering 999 calls and responding to more patients than ever before, something that is testament to our incredibly hard-working frontline staff, as well as those handling the calls and dispatching the most appropriate clinical response to patients in greatest need,' said Anna Parry, managing director of the AACE. Dennis Reed, director of the Silver Voices NGO which advocates for elderly people in Britain, said the lack of ambulance availability was caused by them having to wait outside hospitals because of a lack of available beds, a problem he said could be solved by investing in social care to ensure older people could be cared for at home. 'This government has not sorted out the social care crisis and comes up with all sorts of other ideas instead,' said Reed, who believed the Lib Dem proposal of a £50m emergency fund would 'only help around the margins' unless social care is invested in. Caroline Abrahams, Age UK charity director, said: 'So many people in acute medical need going to hospital under their own steam, including those in late old age, reflect an ambulance service struggling to cope. Even once these people arrive they may face a long wait for treatment, possibly on a trolley in an overspill area, not even in A&E. "This is a truly frightening scenario for the public that diminishes their trust in the NHS and as such is a problem that should be a top priority for politicians to solve.'
BBC News
2 days ago
- BBC News
Dog owner urges caution after pet bitten by adder near Whitby
A dog owner has urged others to be vigilant when walking their pets after her Labrador was bitten by a Mawer was walking three-year-old Malcolm on moorland above the North Yorkshire village of Egton, near Whitby, when he was bitten on 5 Mawer said her dog became dazed and its face began to swell up after the incident so she rushed him to a nearby vets for treatment."What scares me is that if I hadn't have seen the snake and what happened I wouldn't have known he had been bitten," the 55-year-old added. Mrs Mawer, from Egton, said she had stopped to take a photo of the adder - the UK's only venomous snake - moments before Malcolm was bitten."It only looked like it was the tail end of the snake that moved, so I wasn't 100% sure. "Malcolm didn't yelp, he didn't bark."When the pair got back to the car, Mrs Mawer noticed Malcom retching."After the 10-minute drive home he was really dazed, just stood there."When we offered him something to eat he just didn't take it, at which point we knew something was wrong. By the time we got to the vets his face was swelling up." 'It can be lethal' Dr Simon Beck, from the Beck Vetinary Practice where Malcolm was treated, said the practice saw adder bites about once a fortnight during summer months."It can be lethal if you don't get them treated quickly," he said."If a dog is bitten you need to get it straight back to your car and get it to a vet."If dog owners want to be low risk then they are better to take the dogs out in areas where there isn't moorland or heather." Mrs Mawer said Malcolm had made a full recovery since the incident, but said the experience had taught her two things."Don't stop to take a photo and if you see your dogs behaviour change after you have been on the moors, or if they are just acting unusually, seriously think about whether they have been bitten by an adder," she said. Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
