Latest news with #GreatOrmondStreet
BBC News
5 days ago
- Business
- BBC News
Toy designed by North Yorkshire boy with cancer to be manufactured
A boy who has designed his dream toy while undergoing treatment for a rare form of cancer will see his teddy bear - named the Bat Cat - manufactured and sold to raise money for from Skelton in North Yorkshire, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia when he was six and has undergone chemotherapy, radiotherapy and a bone marrow is now 11 years old and has recently been discharged from Great Ormond Street Hospital after relapsing for a third is a keen artist and after his toy design won a public vote to be made he said: "I wanted to create a superhero teddy, which children could cuddle when having treatment to make them feel better." Before his diagnosis, Spencer had been experiencing cold-like symptoms for about two weeks, his mum Karen felt lethargic, had a few bruises on his legs and was pale."But it was his rapid heart rate, which concerned us most," she was quickly diagnosed and began chemotherapy treatment. 'Incredibly proud' Spencer has undergone four-and-a-half years of treatment for his condition, which has left him with pain in his legs and in need of a has also experienced long periods of isolation - missing out on schooling and educational trips - which has affected his mood."Having a child go through cancer treatment is absolutely heart-breaking," Karen said. "We would do absolutely anything to swap places with him if we could. "Knowing he has relapsed three times is absolutely crushing."We feel physically and emotionally drained."Due to his weakened immune system, Spencer is at higher risk of infections and will need to spend time isolating while he recovers for the next three months."We are incredibly proud of Spencer," Karen said his treatment had been tough and charity Cancer Support UK's competition to design a toy had had a "positive impact" on him."For him, just knowing his design was receiving votes made him happy, but then to find out he won, it just blew him away," she said. Company Warmies will manufacture 1,200 of the Bat Cats designed by Spencer and all profits will be donated to Tweedale from the firm said seeing Spencer's reaction when he recieved the first teddy was "something I won't ever forget."Mark Guymer, CEO of Cancer Support UK, said the funds raised from the project would "enable us to provide vital practical and emotional support to people living with and beyond cancer". Listen to highlights from North Yorkshire on BBC Sounds, catch up with the latest episode of Look North.
Perth Now
6 days ago
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Jason Isaacs spontaneously married wife to get 'medical insurance' for her
Jason Isaacs spontaneously married his wife Emma in Los Angeles so she could get "medical insurance". 'The White Lotus' star has recalled how he had no insurance - apart from his Screen Actors Guild insurance - to cover hospital bills when his then-pregnant spouse was "sick and had lung problems" in Los Angeles, California. So, Jason and Emma - who have daughters Lily, 23, and Ruby, 19 - decided to get hitched at a "registry office" in the city and then go to the hospital so their hefty medical costs could be covered. He explained to Jessie and Lennie Ware on the latest episode of the 'Table Manners' podcast: "We were in Los Angeles. She was pregnant, Emma, she'd been sick [and] had lung problems, and we wanted to fly home. "And I phoned my brother, who's a doctor, and he put us on to a lung specialist. "The guy said you need to go to a hospital and have a check for pulmonary embolism right now, because you shouldn't get on a plane, because she's had two courses of antibiotics and still got lung ache. And we went, and I didn't have medical insurance for her, but I get SAG insurance (Screen Actors Guild). "So we went to a registry office in Los Angeles, and then we went straight to the hospital. Then she got medical insurance." Elsewhere during the podcast conversation, Jason admitted he finds being famous "naff" and is always surprised when people are excited to meet him. The 61-year-old actor - who famously played villain Lucius Malfoy in the 'Harry Potter' film franchise - said: "It's a bit naff being famous. It feels empty. "And I get embarrassed by the social status you get when you meet people who are genuinely impressive and do extraordinary things. "But if you can use it sometimes to lighten people's load or do something good, it just feels like it's swinging the pendulum." Jason has a close bond with Great Ormond Street, a London-based children's hospital, and he enjoys going to meet the kids, as well as "give them autographs" and perform "magic tricks". Jason said: "I have a relationship with Great Ormond Street, and I get to go and help them raise money. "It's the best place to send your kids if they're sick. Hopefully, nobody listening will ever have to send their kids if you do. There's no better place in the world to send their kids. "And they're also a centre for incredible research, and at the moment, they're building a brand new giant Cancer Centre. So I'm hoping to raise money. "But also, when I go, if anyone's interested in meeting someone from 'Harry Potter', I go around and meet the kids, give them autographs, and do magic tricks and other things like that." 'Table Manners' is released weekly and is available on podcast streaming platforms.
The Sun
21-05-2025
- Entertainment
- The Sun
Goals 4 Gosh lineups: Who is playing in huge charity match?
GOALS 4 GOSH returns for 2025 - and fans can expect another star-stuffed lineup! Celebrities from TV, entertainment and music will grace the pitch for the fifth edition of this great event. 1 And Regional Development Director at Funeral Partners, Jamie Groves, along with co-organiser Charlotte Styles, spearhead this occasion and have pulled some big names out of the hat. This includes a couple of Premier League winners, an Olympic champion and even the barber of some of the world's best athletes. What are the Goals 4 GOSH lineups? The starting lineups will be revealed on the day, but this year's participants have already been confirmed. Eden Hazard Eman SV2 Wayne Routledge Troy Deeney Grime Gran Ron Hall Manny Joel Baya Gemma Davison Beau the Beard Nathan Dawe Swarmz A Star Lianne Sanderson Shane Long Danny Aarons Adrian Mariappa Joe Cole Jason Euell Paul Gorton Leon Jackman Nathan Khider Marc White Jay & Poppy Matty Briggs Specs Gonzalez Fara Williams Bionic Jolie Sharpe Stuart Douglas Colin Kazim-Richards Lia Lewis Big G Fenners Junior Andre Katie Chapman How can I watch Goals 4 GOSH? Details of how to watch the Goals 4 GOSH charity match are yet to be confirmed. However, tickets are available for purchase through the official Goals 4 GOSH Instagram page. All proceeds will be going to the Great Ormond Street Hospital. How much has been raised by Goals 4 GOSH? Last year, this huge charity match raised a staggering £47,851.46 which all went to Great ormond Street Hospital. However, overall, Goals 4 GOSH has earned £161,606.00 in donations since it was created in 2021. Goals 4 GOSH highlight their mission on the website where it reads: "Our mission is to use the power of football to raise awareness of G.O.S.H's incredible work and help fund the vital research, equipment, and facilities that are needed to treat critically ill children. "An incredible charity that is unquestionably close to all our hearts. Us as the organisers, many people within the community and players representing both sets of teams, have either had family members or friends who have been under the treatment and care at Great Ormond Street Hospital." "At the height of the pandemic, guidelines and restrictions meant that over the last few years there were large periods of time where only one person was allowed to be with a child whilst they were being cared for at Great Ormond Street Hospital. "There were even occasions where no one could enter certain wards at the hospital. This did not stop the level of care and service any children received. The NHS staff were not only doctors and nurses but parents, grandparents, siblings and friends, serving love and companionship to the children in their care. For this, we are unconditionally grateful."
Irish Times
20-05-2025
- Health
- Irish Times
‘After Brexit, both of us became interested in having an Irish passport, like a lot of people'
'Everything's 'grand', isn't it?' John Foran is talking about interactions here. For the consultant cardiologist from London, 'partial retirement' from Britain's NHS in fact meant emigrating to Ireland and a new career; a gradual thing, still with a foot in the UK. 'In medicine, you don't really retire at 60, you sort of keep working.' He specialises in coronary intervention, heart rhythm disorders, structural heart disease, and stroke prevention techniques, and worked for 36 years in the NHS, in hospitals including Great Ormond Street, King's College, St George's, and the Royal Brompton, as well as the 'perk' of private work. Foran introduced left atrial appendage closure to the UK in 2003, a minimally invasive procedure reducing stroke risk in atrial fibrillation patients. A sabbatical aged 60 added cardiac surgical procedures to his palette. 'I was doing some stenotomy work, through a video-assisted thoracoscopic port', working on the heart 'through small holes rather than big incisions, which is quite nice'. The sabbatical involved time to reflect, meeting new people – and several job offers. He realised, 'if I don't move now, I'll be stuck in the same job for another 10 years'. One offer was from Mater Private Cork, leading its cardiology team, bringing new interventional techniques and stroke prevention therapies to its Cork Heart Centre. It was 'an easy choice to make'. READ MORE Longer term, he and his wife, Dympna, hope to retire in Ireland, by the sea. He's a Foran and she's an O'Farrell, both born in Wimbledon in the early 1960s. Then 'after Brexit, both of us became interested in having an Irish passport, like a lot of people'. His grandmother was born in Tralee, and his mother in Islington; her parents were born in Dublin. Brexit refugees? 'You could say that. An Irish passport is quite a nice one to have when it comes to travelling.' They had family holidays in Dingle when the children were young, 'and even if the rain was horizontal, the kids still loved it'. He recalls Ireland in the 1970s 'quite a different place, Dublin then, compared to what it is now. It just sort of grew on us, really.' He had done some proctoring (demonstrating a medical procedure to colleagues) in Cork, 'so when I saw the place again for the first time late last year, I had a deja vu feeling. Some colleagues I work with trained in London, so I knew them at earlier career stages. Medicine's quite a small world. Cardiology in particular. Colleagues I worked with in London now work back in Ireland or in Northern Ireland.' [ 'It's bowled me over how Irish people look after each other. And they work bloody hard' Opens in new window ] The experience of emigrating to another country after 60 was smooth. 'It's not a million miles away. I played squash for a club in Cheam. I've found another squash club up the road from Douglas, where I live.' It's easy to fly back to south London, where they still have a home, to see family and friends, and for their grown-up children, aged 22-27 and based in London, to visit. They planned the move, finding a two-bedroom apartment to rent in Douglas sight-unseen, with help from the hospital and relocation agents. 'I landed on my feet.' They came across on a ferry during Storm Éowyn . 'Obviously it's quite rugged, weather-wise, along the Atlantic coast. At first it was minus-5, minus-7, snow on the ground in Cork, 10-11 inches in places, drifting, icy roads. It was quite forbidding.' Even with the lovely weather now, 'it's quite amazing. The clouds that come in off the Atlantic and the weather patterns, the winds.' People are friendly in his apartment block, and at work, 'particularly the porters, people who work behind the scenes in the hospital, the receptionists. It's just a great bunch, very easy to get on with. I'm very blessed, I think.' They knew Kerry but have been exploring places in Munster they didn't know: Kinsale, Clonakilty, Skibbereen, Ballycotton. Dympna is a specialist cardiac nurse, 'retired' too but working part-time in London, spending half her time in Cork. In London, John 'was doing five different hospitals and almost seven-day working. Here I'm in one place, and it's five-day working.' He has moved from public healthcare in the UK (plus private patients) to private healthcare here, but is familiar with Irish public healthcare from proctoring. 'I've got a reasonable idea of what the government hospitals are like. They're not dissimilar to some NHS hospitals. We have long waiting lists everywhere nowadays. I think the funding maybe is not so good here. The waiting times are longer here, but we have long waits in England too for NHS care. 'Slowly but surely medicine, I think, is changing a bit. Junior doctors have more shift-work patterns, more working-time directive, less vocational feel, compared to what there was 36 years ago. I remember 17 out of 19 days on call when I was a junior doctor. We just took it on the chin and said, that's the way it is. But now people wouldn't do that. On the other hand, there's no substitute for the exposure and the experience you get from that pattern of learning. If you can survive that, you can survive anything.' [ 'People label Ireland as conservative, but it is very forward-thinking' Opens in new window ] He has noticed 'the roads are very dangerous around here'. He lives near Cork's South Slip, 'and you hear the racing in the middle of the night, motorbikes and high-powered cars speeding down the motorway. I think it's a common place for people to hang out at night, when the roads are empty, racing each other when they probably shouldn't. You hear about so many accidents. The quality of the roads isn't great. 'CUH [Cork University Hospital] is a trauma centre, and many of their A&E doctors work with us at the Mater Private so I get a taste of what's going on around the place. They're involved in the helicopter emergency medical service. And I just hear about all the accidents happening all the time, whether it's down near Baltimore and Bantry, or closer to home. There's a lot of news items about young children run over. It just seems a lot more prevalent. Maybe they just report it more over here.' His patient profile varies more now. 'We're in such a rural area. Cork, five minutes out, you're in the countryside, beautiful green fields and open spaces. I probably didn't have many farmers coming into clinic in central London.' Generally 'the farming community don't seem to complain very much, but you know if they have got a complaint, it's probably quite serious.' Communication styles can be different with some older patients. 'Some people need their wives by their side to be able to express themselves. Taking a history and trying to get to the root of the problem is sometimes a team effort. You need other people to help. It's the same in any community ... Medicine is about talking to people and examining them. It's not just about doing tests and interpreting tests. I enjoy the patient interaction. Sometimes you have to tease things out of people. They don't come out with what's concerning them straight away. That's human nature.' We would like to hear from people who have moved to Ireland. To get involved, email newtotheparish@ .
Telegraph
18-05-2025
- Health
- Telegraph
Great Ormond Street surgeon ‘left teenager in constant pain'
A teenager operated on by a Great Ormond Street Hospital surgeon has said he is living in 'constant pain'. Finias Sandu, 15, who was born with a condition that causes curved bones in the legs, underwent a reconstructive operation when he was seven to lengthen his left leg by 3.5cm. A few years later, he had the same procedure, which involved him wearing a heavy metal frame for months, on his right leg. Yaser Jabbar, who carried out the operation and who no longer works at the children's hospital, is now at the centre of an investigation reviewing the care given to more than 700 of his patients, which allegedly left some suffering 'severe harm'. Finias has now been told by independent reviewers that the procedures on his legs were 'unacceptable' and 'inappropriate' for his age, Sky News reported. Concerns have also been raised over a lack of imaging being taken prior to the operations. Pain 'is a companion to me' Hudgell Solicitors, who represent the Sandu family, said the experts had concluded he suffered 'moderate harm' as a result of the treatment he had received. 'The pain is there every day, every day I'm continuously in pain,' the teenager told Sky News. 'It's not something really sharp, although it does get to a certain point where it hurts quite a lot, but it's always there. It just doesn't leave, it's a companion to me, just always there.' Mr Jabbar, who worked at the London hospital between 2017 and 2022, is reported to be an expert in limb reconstruction, but has not had a licence to practise medicine in the UK since January, according to the General Medical Council's website. The Royal College of Surgeons carried out a review of Great Ormond Street's paediatric orthopaedic service after concerns were raised by patients' families and staff. As part of its review, the RCS raised concerns about a former surgeon and other practices within the service. Great Ormond Street has asked a group of independent paediatric orthopaedic consultants from other UK hospitals to carry out a review of the care of patients treated by Mr Jabbar. Some, including Finias, have required corrective surgery. By the end of last month 416 patients had been reviewed, a Great Ormond Street spokesman said. 'Trusting somebody is hard to do, knowing what they have done to me physically and emotionally, you know, it's just too much to comprehend for me,' Finias said. 'We just went by what the doctor said' 'It wasn't something just physically, like my leg pain and everything else. It was emotionally, because I put my trust in that specific doctor. My parents and I don't really understand the more scientific terms, we just went by what he said.' Finias and his family moved to their native Romania soon after the reconstructive frame was removed from his right leg in 2021. He is receiving therapy and mental health support as he prepares for corrective surgery later in the year. A spokesman for Great Ormond Street Hospital said: 'We are deeply sorry to Finias and his family, and all the patients and families who have been impacted. 'We want every patient and family who comes to our hospital to feel safe and cared for. 'We will always discuss concerns families may have and, where they submit claims, we will work to ensure the legal process can be resolved as quickly as possible.'
