Latest news with #AndrewParker
BBC News
30-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Former police station to be sold at auction
A town's former police station is due to be sold at auction next month, with a guide price of £ four-storey building in Tamworth was built in 1975 and was in use until Property Auctions said planning permission had been granted to convert it into 54 apartments, with a gym and car auction is due to take place on 26 June. Auctioneer Andrew Parker described the potential development as a "much-needed residential scheme in the heart of Tamworth".The firm said there was high demand for apartments in the Staffordshire town, partly because of its rail links to Birmingham and described the former police headquarters, on Spinning School Lane, as a "brutalist-style property", which had been built to replace the previous Victorian-era police station. Follow BBC Stoke & Staffordshire on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
BBC News
21-05-2025
- Business
- BBC News
Former South Asian radio studio in Wolverhampton put up for auction
A former community radio studio based in Wolverhampton is to go under the hammer at auction. South Asian community radio station, Radio Kanshi, broadcast in English and Punjabi from a property in Cartwright Street, close to the city centre, auctioneers SDL Property Auctions, building has two ground-floor offices and a first-floor three-bedroom apartment and will be sold on 29 May with a guide price of £150, Parker, partner and auctioneer at SDL Property Auctions, said the property was "full of the vibrancy of live community radio, and it has great potential to be put to good use once again". "It's also in an excellent location, on Cartwright Street, very close to Wolverhampton city centre and with a large number of thriving retail, trade counter and automotive businesses in the immediate area."The radio station will be among more than 220 other properties and plots of land to be available for sale at the auction later this month, the company added. Follow BBC Wolverhampton & Black Country on BBC Sounds, Facebook, X and Instagram.
News24
09-05-2025
- Health
- News24
A miracle match for baby Leo: donor found in record time for ultra-rare condition
IMAGINE your busy baby cooped up in a cot for six weeks with only a few toys, medical staff and Mom and Dad around to entertain him. That's the reality Tarryn and Andrew Parker of Cape Town are facing as their 10-month-old son prepares to undergo a life-saving stem cell transplant. Little Leo Parker's story has captivated the hearts of thousands around the world after his search for a donor went viral in March. He was born with MECOM-associated syndrome – a rare and life-threatening genetic disorder that stops the bone marrow from producing red and white blood cells as well as platelets. There are only 23 recorded cases in the world and Leo is the first known case in SA, Andrew says. 'How I explain it is that his bone marrow factory is broken, which means he has zero immunity.' Red blood cells carry oxygen around the body while white cells are your immune-fighting cells. Platelets help with clotting and prevent bleeding. Without these life-sustaining properties, Leo has had to rely on regular platelet and blood transfusions to survive. Tarryn Parker Now, in what his parents have called a miracle, he's been given a chance at a normal life after a match was found for him. 'We got the email on Easter Monday,' says Andrew (41), an estate agent. 'I told Tarryn and we were both in disbelief.' But things won't be easy. 'We're probably facing the hardest part right now,' says Tarryn (41), an aesthetics doctor. Leo's transplant, which is set to take place in mid-May, requires the insertion of a Hickman line, a tube placed under the skin of his chest and into a large vein leading to his heart. This is attached to a bag of his donor's stem cells. 'The whole process will probably take a few hours,' Tarryn says. Thereafter he'll be confined to a cot in a sterile hospital room for six weeks. Before the procedure Leo will have chemotherapy to rid his body of his own faulty bone marrow cells. The treatment will be hard on his little body but a 'clean slate' is needed for the new marrow to engraft. During this process he'll be confined to a cot in a sterile hospital room for six weeks. In June Leo will be sent home where his family will face a nail-biting wait to see if the transplant was a success. 'It usually takes three or four months, or until you reach Day 100 – the day generally considered safe to see whether the stem cells have completely grafted,' Andrew says. Leo will be on anti-rejection medication and the family will isolate at home to ensure no outside germs are brought in. 'We can't have anyone over and we'll be wearing masks,' Andrew says. Both have had to stop working for a while. 'We'll probably only go back after six months, or maybe longer,' Tarryn says. 'We both have people-facing jobs, so we had to give them up. The biggest risk to Leo is infection.' The name Leo means 'brave-hearted' and so far he's living up to it. 'He's a very happy, busy baby,' Andrew says. 'When he's at home he loves to play with his eight-year-old brother, Max, or the family Golden Retriever, Harrison.' Right now their emotions are a mix of hope and fear. Tarryn recently visited the transplant unit where Leo will have his procedure and it was a shock, she says. 'It was just so cold, so sterile and the reality of Leo being there for six weeks hit home.' But it's worth it to give their baby boy the chance of a normal life, Andrew says. Andrew Parker Leo's donor was found through the assistance of the Deutsche Knochenmarkspenderdatei or DKMS (Africa), formerly known as The Sunflower Fund, an international non-profit organisation dedicated to fighting blood disorders, and took three months to find. 'Leo was swabbed in January and we got a match at the end of April,' Tarryn says. 'It was relatively quick – some people wait years.' They don't know any details about the donor except that they are from South Africa. 'Donors remain anonymous to protect their privacy and dignity,' she adds. Tarryn did her own research and eventually stumbled upon Leo's disease Supplied While the hunt was on, Andrew contacted other bone marrow registers around the world. One organisation in Canada, Swab the World, made Leo the face of their organisation. 'It's amazing,' Andrew says. 'Leo's face featured in metro stations, bus shelters, rest stations and university campuses across Canada. They were so touched by his story they wanted to use him.' Andrew believes he might have passed on the condition to his son. He suffers from bilateral hearing loss, radioulnar synostosis, and syndactyly (webbed fingers) – three symptoms of MECOM little Leo also has. The disorder can present differently, but it typically impacts the heart, kidney, bone marrow, hearing and hands and arms as well as the inability to turn your arm around fully around. 'Andrew is a completely sporty, clever, normal guy – he never thought to get tested,' Tarryn says. In December, however, he had a cochlear implant inspired by his son. 'I'd always just put it off and wore hearing aids. But with the implant you can get virtually 70% of your hearing back.' He's looking at having genetic testing for MECOM but doesn't appear to have the bone marrow issue. 'I'd be sick all the time if I did,' he says. When Tarryn was pregnant with Leo doctors picked up a mild heart condition in the fetus but told her it wasn't cause for alarm. But things became dramatic when she went into labour six weeks early. Leo was rushed to the ICU because he was having breathing difficulties and tests revealed he had low blood platelets. 'That was the first sign things may be wrong,' Tarryn says. He was discharged after 18 days and his parents were told to bring him in regularly for a platelet count. However, things quickly deteriorated. 'His platelets plummeted and then his red and white blood cell counts started going down until they reached zero, which meant he needed regular transfusions to survive.' But doctors still battled to put a name to his condition. 'Because MECOM is so rare and the world of medicine is so vast, they literally didn't know about it,' Tarryn says. She decided to throw herself into research and spent weeks trawling the internet – until one night she found what she was looking for. 'I circled it and WhatsApped it to our paediatrician. The next day she said, 'Excellent research'.' Leo had genetic testing which confirmed MECOM syndrome. His parents are now trying to get his weight up from 7,9kg, one kilo less than his ideal weight. 'Because he's had so many gastrointestinal infections his gut is constantly inflamed and he struggles to eat,' Tarryn says. 'He's on a special formula to keep his kilojoules up.' They are eternally grateful for the support they've received and hope their story will inspire others in similar situations. 'Never give up and share the load,' Tarryn says. 'We work as a team – if the one needs to sleep at the hospital, the other holds down the fort at home.' She and Andrew hope the transplant will mean no more needles for their precious baby. 'He's still little but he knows to a degree when he goes into hospital and he knows needles hurt. But he's so brave always.'
BBC News
11-04-2025
- General
- BBC News
Cold War nuclear bunker in Rutland to go under the hammer
A former nuclear bunker in Rutland which has been given planning consent to be transformed into a modern home is to be sold at 1.4-acre bunker and former reservoir site, which sits half a mile from Uppingham, has been given a guide price of £650, listing describes it as a "Grand Designs-style" opportunity, with "cathedral-type ceilings", a large glass frontage and "stunning" views over the Property Auctions said the bunker, which opened in 1960, formed part of a UK-wide network of 1,500 Cold War underground monitoring posts operated by the Royal Observer Corps. The idea is they would be used to monitor nuclear blasts and the ensuing fall-out in the event of a major escalation was decommissioned in 1968. Auctioneer Andrew Parker said there had been "a lot of interest" in the bunker, which he said was "something of a rarity, with its unique Cold War history".He added planning consent for its transformation into a modern home had been granted by Rutland County auction is due to take place on 24 July 2024, another Royal Observer Corps underground bunker in the Yorkshire Dales, was sold for £48,000.
The Independent
27-03-2025
- Business
- The Independent
Historic 25-bedroom hall sells for £305,000 at auction
A disused grade II listed stately home with 25 bedrooms and 16 acres of land has sold at auction for the bargain price of £305,000. Otterburn Hall, located in Northumberland National Park, was sold to an unnamed private buyer on Thursday in an online auction for around £25,000 more than the UK's average house price. The Victorian country house, which comes with woodland, a private lake and fishing rights, has been disused since 2012 and will require extensive renovation. Previously run as a hotel, the building has been disused since 2012 and vandals have been able to get inside, smashing a piano and graffitiing the walls. Despite the large refurbishment costs, the sale exceeded the £220,000 guide price. Andrew Parker, auctioneer and partner at SDL Property Auctions, said: 'It was a great result all round that Otterburn Hall sold at the auction today. 'Buying a historic property of this size and in this state of disrepair is certainly not for the faint hearted and we wish the buyer all the very best with their plans for the property and look forward to seeing how things progress.' Built in 1870 as a country retreat for Lord James Murray, the neo-Elizabethan brick and stone-built property, 30 miles north west of Newcastle, was requisitioned by the military in the Second World War and has also been used as a Christian education centre.
