At 33, Sharon felt an ache in her leg. Within two years, she couldn't walk or speak due to a disease that used to be vanishingly rare in young people
'Looking back, I do remember feeling just a little bit more uncoordinated than normal - kind of like my body couldn't quite make the move that my brain was trying to tell me to make,' Sharon Kirkwood, now 41, tells Daily Mail.
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Fat jab users will go to dodgy online sellers if Mounjaro rollout is botched by NHS, drug bosses warn
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The Sun
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BBC presenter taken to hospital in ambulance after ‘real wake up call' working at Wimbledon and putting off medical care
BBC presenter Qasa Alom has opened up on his recent health battle after being taken to hospital in an ambulance in the middle of Wimbledon. The journalist took to Instagram to lift the lid on a difficult few weeks for him following an admission to hospital in the middle of the SW19 tournament. 5 5 5 5 He did not provide details on what exactly the issue was, but said it had escalated after he had put off going to see a medical professional. Qasa said: "I can't say the last few weeks have been easy… "Ever since the middle of Wimbledon I've been battling my body with a health issue. "I put off getting proper medical care because I just did not want to miss The Championships (error). Eventually it became too much & escalated. "Thankfully the NHS have been brilliant in giving me the care I needed." He described the incident as a "real wake up call" and warned his followers to not put off seeking help if needed as it "will completely knock you for six". Qasa added: "Respect your body and its limitations. We only have one. "Grateful to my family for helping me through a difficult period & now the road to recovery." Qasa shared pictures of his time at the hospital and during his journey to hospital on his post. Originally from Birmingham, Qasa joined the BBC in 2010 working for local radio before going on to win a Frank Gillard Award for his coverage for Radio 4 about Stoke-on-Trent's illegal sex trade. He made his BBC1 debut in 2016 before directing a film for the broadcaster in 2017. Qasa was named Radio Presenter of the Year in 2020 in the Asian Media Awards for his work on BBC Asian Network. He covered The Boat Race and 2022 Commonwealth Games in his hometown of Birmingham before taking on the role as BBC's flagship daily tennis highlights presenter for Wimbledon in 2023.
The Sun
18 minutes ago
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My sister choked to death on tumours after conspiracy mum told her to refuse treatment – she must be banned
WHEN devastated Gabriel Shemirani heard his twin sister Paloma had died, he could not believe it. He had been told months ago that the 23-year-old Cambridge graduate's cancer was curable — but she had refused life-saving chemotherapy after going to live with their anti-vaxxer mum. 7 7 In a doomed attempt to cure her non-Hodgkin lymphoma, Paloma, from Uckfield, East Sussex, had followed a bogus coffee-based treatment promoted by the Australian cancer faker Belle Gibson. Recalling the heartbreaking moment a friend told him his sister had died after choking on her tumours, Gabriel tells The Sun: 'That's the most difficult part, because you're trying to do everything in your brain to think it's not real, it's not true. 'And every time you utter the words to someone else, that 'Paloma is dead' it feels like you're being burned alive.' At an inquest in Maidstone, Kent, last week, Gabriel blamed his mother Kate Shemirani — a former NHS nurse — for the death of his sister. 'People are dying. This needs to stop' Kate, 59, was struck off by the Nursing and Midwifery Council in May 2021 after claiming that the Covid virus was a hoax. She wrote that 'the NHS is the new Auschwitz' and regularly posted messages on social media opposing chemotherapy. Now she is advertising herself as a 'natural nurse' on her website. Gabriel, 24, wants a change in the law to protect patients from medical misinformation. The economics and maths student says: 'I couldn't save my sister, but there's still time to save others. 'People are dying. This needs to stop. Mum sacrificed my sister for anti-vax views, says twin of woman who died after refusing chemo for 'treatable' cancer 'The law is so out-of-date that we can have a woman that's killed her daughter still claiming to be a nurse. 'I believe my sister was being coerced. It's conspiratorial coercion when you convince her the elites are going to kill them, big pharma's going to kill them, even the doctors at the hospital are going to kill them.' Gabriel's mother has been banned from Facebook, Instagram and TikTok but was reinstated on X after billionaire Elon Musk took over. She denies responsibility — and blames the paramedics who tried to save her daughter's life. A year after Paloma's death, Gabriel is still feeling the loss of his sister. He says: 'With a twin they've always been there by your side. 'There's so much that doesn't need to be said because you already understand it, — it's almost like you have your own language. We were incredibly close — at no point did we ever fall out.' Growing up together with two other siblings in a troubled household also strengthened their bond. I wasn't able to have any meaningful conversation with my sister because she was out of it. That was the last time I saw Paloma. Gabriel on sister Paloma Their Iranian father Faramarz believed in conspiracy theories, such as the idea that the US government blew up the Twin Towers in New York on 9/11. From the age of nine, his mother told him to stop using suncream, and a couple of years later banned the kids from drinking tap water. At the inquest, Gabriel also claimed that she had been 'emotionally distant' and physically abusive during his childhood. In 2012, Kate was diagnosed with cancer, which she survived after having a double mastectomy. But she credits her survival to alternative treatments, including the controversial Gerson therapy which involves taking coffee enemas. Belle Gibson, who was the subject of the Netflix drama Apple Cider Vinegar, promoted the fake Gerson 'cure' before it was revealed she did not have terminal brain cancer. Like Gibson, Kate became a wellness guru — and Gabriel says: 'I think she saw her way to get that attention she'd always craved.' When the pandemic began in 2020, Gabriel was the last sibling living at the family home, with his father having moved back to Iran after separating from Kate six years earlier. But he moved out, preferring to 'sofa surf' over being locked down with his mother — and he says he 'wasn't surprised' when her extreme views made headlines. During a protest in London's Trafalgar Square in 2021, Kate asked for the names of doctors and nurses to be sent to her, before warning: 'At the Nuremberg Trials, the doctors and nurses stood trial and they hung.' 7 Gabriel thought his sister was free of his mum's influence — but that all changed when Paloma was told she had cancer in late December 2023 and went to live back at home. Fearing that his sister wasn't going to accept the cancer treatment recommended by the NHS, Gabriel went to visit her on Christmas Day. He says he argued with his mum, adding: 'I wasn't able to have any meaningful conversation with my sister because she was out of it. That was the last time I saw Paloma.' Blocked from visiting, Gabriel sent messages begging Paloma to try chemotherapy. He received no response, so he took the extraordinary measure of trying to take his mum to the High Court, arguing that his sister was being 'coerced' by her. 'I don't talk to her, I have no feelings for her' Gabriel also asked social services to investigate, but claims they only spoke to Paloma on the phone while her mum was in the room. He says: 'For four or five months, I was living in constant fear that I was gonna get that phone call from someone saying my sister had died.' Unknown to him, his sister's condition was deteriorating rapidly. After collapsing at her mother's home on July 19 last year, Paloma was flown by air ambulance to the Royal Sussex County Hospital. Osteopath Nick Gosset, who assessed Paloma that day, told the inquest she was 'a young lady who was in the last stages of a very difficult disease, and she had declined to engage with conventional treatment.' The doctor 'had never seen anything like' the amount of growths going from her right shoulder to her neck during his 43 years in medicine. Five days later Paloma's life support machine was shut off, she had a heart attack as a result of the cancer. It would be another six days before Gabriel learned his sister had died. I think people like my mum should be regulated like a doctor should be regulated. If you are making medical claims, health claims, you should be held to account. Gabriel on his mother Kate Neither he nor his brother Sebastian were told about the funeral which took place in August last year. Gabriel says: 'She was cremated without our knowledge.' Now he no longer wants to have anything to do with 'that woman.' Gabriel, who calls his mum by her real name Kay, says: 'We're complete strangers. I don't talk to her — I have no feelings for her.' Kate's version of events is very different to the medical practitioners who treated Paloma. She claims on her blog that her daughter 'did not die of cancer' and was instead the victim of medical negligence. Kate says that paramedics should not have given Paloma adrenaline. On her website, she accuses the coroner of attempting to 'harass' her and 'acting unlawfully.' The former nurse also says that 'viruses and their transmission was invented' and that 5G masts were responsible for Covid. She offers one-hour consultations and branded vitamins for £75 a bottle through her website. The inquest is set to resume next week and take three days to conclude. Whatever verdict the coroner gives, this battle is not over for Gabriel. He is on a mission to properly regulate the ever-growing alternative medicine industry. Gabriel wants to prevent others relying on unproven treatments and has spoken out on the BBC's Panorama documentary Cancer Conspiracy Theories. He says: 'I think people like my mum should be regulated like a doctor should be regulated. 'If you are making medical claims, health claims, you should be held to account.' The global wellness industry is valued at over £5trillion and the authorities are struggling to challenge the countless over-inflated claims being made for natural remedies. Vitamins and a healthier diet can help cancer patients, but there is no scientific basis for claims that they are alternatives to proven treatments such as chemotherapy. Gabriel wants the Online Safety Act — designed to prevent children accessing harmful material and adults seeing illegal content — to also be used to stop medical misinformation. He says: 'Harmful but legal is still allowed for adults. These laws around promotion of treatments for cancer need to be changed.' Until then, 'natural nurse' Kate will continue to try to influence vulnerable patients hoping for a miracle cure. 7 7
