One of my life’s goals is to fight for people with epilepsy to be accepted (Picture: Hayley Allen) I didn’t really have any friends throughout school. Having epilepsy meant people were scared of me. They treated me like I was a ticking time bomb and at any moment, I could go off. The bullying was […]
Clare’s dad was diagnosed with epilepsy before she was born (Picture: Clare O’Reilly) ‘STOP. Don’t.’ I was five years old, and my mum Irene’s voice stopped me in my tracks. What was I doing that was so filled with jeopardy? Running towards my dad, desperate to help him. My dad, Mick, was having a tonic […]
Annie had no idea she’d been born with two vaginas until a visit to the sexual health clinic (Picture: Annie Charlotte) Lying on an examination table with her legs spread, 16-year-old Annie Charlotte heard the words no one wants to hear from a sexual health nurse: ‘Oh my god!’ She’d gone to the clinic to […]
I couldn’t help but feel my learning disability had played a part in my late diagnosis (Picture: Annabell Downey) ‘You’ve got cancer and it’s terminal.’ Sitting on a plastic chair in a hospital room, aged 50, I stared at my doctor in shock. It was January 2023 and as the news sunk in, I felt […]
16 Mar, 2025 | Admin | No Comments
My 8-year-old fundraised for charity – trolls tried to give him a seizure
Zach started travelling up and down the country for radio and media interviews after he started campaigning to make seizure-inducing posts illegal (Picture: Claire Keer) My son Zach’s walking challenge was partly inspired by Captain Tom Moore, partly by boredom. I took him out of school at the very start of the Covid-19 pandemic; he […]
As I ran through the park I felt a sense of freedom from normal life (Picture: Stevie Ancasta) I made sure to park close to the starting line at my local organised 5k, then I apprehensively got out of my car. I was worried – scared even. I felt a real fear of the other runners not accepting […]
15 Mar, 2025 | Admin | No Comments
Doctors wanted to ‘prove me wrong’ over my daughter – then she died
Sandie Scrivens and her husband Roger with their daughter Becky (right) and their other daughter (Picture: Sandie Scrivens) In September 2001, my husband Roger and I were woken by strange noises. We rushed to our eight-year-old daughter Becky’s bedroom to find she was having a seizure. When she came round, she had no idea that […]
We officially moved to Spain in June 2023 with our dog (Picture: Emma Kemsley) Looking at the sun glistening on the water, I braced myself as a wave roared towards me. I paddled, then jumped up onto my board, feeling only exhilaration as I surfed the wave to the shore. Six months prior, this would […]
14 Mar, 2025 | Admin | No Comments
The little-known side effect of a procedure 50,000 women have every year
Some women believe more discussion needs to be had before having the procedure (Picture: E+/Getty) When Rosie opened a letter and saw the words ‘abnormal cells’ she felt pure panic. ‘I didn’t think I’d be told that way,’ the 38-year-old tells Metro. ‘No one explained what those words actually meant. All I got was a […]
I was only 11 at the time and didn’t have any grasp of what it meant to have allergies (Picture: Luke Albert) Walking through the hospital car park, Mum and I processed the news. I had just been told I had a severe wheat allergy, and on top of that, I also had coeliac disease. […]