Hundreds of strangers are tested to see if they are a match to help one-year-old girl fighting rare cancer
Image by: Anita Maric SWNS
Hundreds of selfless strangers have come forward to be tested in a bid to find a stem cell match that could save the life of a brave cancer battle toddler.
Little Phoebe Ashfield, aged one, was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukaemia when she was just seven-months-old and her only hope was a stem cell transplant.
Tragically, Phoebe's parents Emma Wyke, 26, and Jordan Ashfield, 26, were not a match.
So friends and family took to Facebook in a desperate search for stranger donors to come forward in a desperate bid to save Phoebe.
Last weekend, (Saturday 13/7), more than 600 potential donors were swabbed at two locations in the West Midlands to help save brave Phoebe.
The two donor rallies were held at Tipton Sports Academy and at a Tesco Extra in Burntwood.
Phoebe, of Dudley, West Mids., was diagnosed with the condition, where the cancer attacks the white blood cells, at Birmingham Children's Hospital on January 18th.
Image by: Anita Maric SWNS
Image by: Anita Maric SWNS
Image by: Emma Wyke
Mum Emma and dad Jordan, an electrician, had their whole life turned "upside down" following the diagnosis.
Gruelling chemotherapy had not worked for their daughter and sadly the cancer has remained.
Mum-of-one Emma was told Phoebe's best chance of survival was a stem cell transplant, but they, sadly, were not a match.
Emma, who gave up her telesales executive job to be a full-time carer, was "overwhelmed" by the amount of people who turned up to be tested.
She said: "Phoebe was diagnosed with B-cell acute lymphoblastic leukaemia when she was just seven-months-old. It started off as a cold and chest infection just Christmas last year.
"I had taken her to the doctors and they gave her some antibiotics but she still didn't get over it a week later.
"She had been sick all over her dad and had a temperature of 39 degrees. I took her to Sandwell Hospital and they thought she was anaemic because of how pale she was.
"But when they looked at her bloods, they came back with the diagnosis of blood cancer.
"We didn't know what type of cancer it was until they transferred us over to Birmingham Children's Hospital - which is where she was diagnosed.
"High dose chemotherapy was started and she had blood transfusions and bone marrow aspirates.
"Four months after being diagnosed she relapsed, the chemotherapy wasn't working in way it should've been.
"That is when were told by doctors, Phoebe needed a stem cell transplant as the chemotherapy wasn't working.
"She could be youngest person to have a stem cell transplant as the youngest person known was a two-year-old in America.
"The stem cell drive had taken place at two places on Saturday (13/7).
"One was at Tipton Sports Academy and the other was at the Tesco Extra store on the Birmingham Road in Dudley.
"A friend of mine, Amy Smith and Nikki Price set it up. Nikki is a friend of one of the mums who child goes to the same school at Oscar Saxelby-Lee.
Image by: Emma Wyke
Image by: Emma Wyke
"They worked together and contacted DKMS and they said yes to helping us set up a drive.
"We had 600 people turn up to the drive yesterday (Sat) and we raised £650 for the charity.
"I was full of emotion at the time. It was so overwhelming. The fact that people had taken time out of their day to come down and see if they were a match for Phoebe.
"It just makes things more real. It was such a good turn out. There aren't words to describe it.
"As a parent seeing all these people come down and you can't thank them enough, thank you doesn't seem to enough.
"Phoebe is so brave. It's a lot for a one-year-old to go through. She always smiling. She has her off days but that's normal for a child, but she just a normal happy one-year-old.
"She just so playful and loving. It is just not fair for any child to go through what this.
"If I could, I would take the condition away from her within a second. We just got to be there for her and help her get through this.
"Our world was turned upside down when she got her diagnosis. People can still register online with the Anthony Taylor Trust and DKMS, they don't go down to a drive.
"A swabbing pack will be sent out in the post and then send it back. Then you can help children such as Phoebe, Oscar and others just like them."
The couple are now waiting to discover if any of the good samaritan donors are a match to enable the transplant to go ahead.
Video by: Ashley Moran
Mum who took her kids on term-time holiday to celebrate her cancer recovery has been fined because her reasons were not considered 'exceptional circumstances'
Image by: Alex Cousins SWNS
A mum who took her kids on a term-time holiday to celebrate her cancer recovery has been fined £788 because her reasons were not considered 'exceptional circumstances'.
Katie McDermott, 36, went through 18 weeks of chemotherapy and had a double mastectomy after finding a lump in her breast in November 2017.
Doctors declared the mum-of-four clear of cancer last year and, in October, she applied to Central Lancaster High School - which two of her children attend - for six days' leave in December.
The NHS worker and her husband Darren, 40, only got a response from the school seven weeks later - just two days before they were due to go away.
To their shock, the letter rejected the application but, with only 48 hours' notice, the family had no time to rearrange the holiday and travelled to Tenerife despite the school's ruling.
On their return they received a letter from the local authority, which passed the case on to Lancaster Magistrates' Court, and a fine was issued.
After appealing the decision, last month Katie and Darren, from Lancaster, Lancs., were fined a total of £788 for taking their children out of school without permission.
The couple say their secondary school aged children, Joseph, 14, and Oliver, 12, have never applied for leave from their school before.
They added their five-year-old daughter Ava was given permission for holiday leave from her primary school without a problem and their youngest Ella, four, is still at nursery.
Katie said: "The kids have been so good throughout everything, it was really difficult but they kept going.
"They have always gone into school and done their work without any problems at all.
"The school have said they were model students and that we should be proud of them.
"I really feel like they deserved this trip after everything they have been through.
"The way we have been treated is really upsetting."
Darren, who works as a plumber, said the holiday was a surprise treat for the children to give them a chance to spend time with their mum after so much upheaval.
He said: "We have never taken the kids out of school before, it was just to take them away with Katie after all she had been through.
"We put a holiday request form in the day before the October half-term break.
"We expected a decision the week back at school which would have given us plenty of time to change the holiday, which we would have done.
"But we didn’t get a reply from the school and it got to the week before the holiday and I said to Katie that we should ring the school, and when she rang it was as though they didn’t know what she was talking about.
"A letter was then sent home that Thursday, when we flew on the Saturday.
"It said we had not been given permission to take the boys out of school, but at that point it was too late, we didn’t have the chance to change it.
"We are in a financial struggle after Katie's treatment but it's not the fine I am bothered about, it's about how we have been portrayed as not really caring, which is totally untrue.
"There just seems to be no consistency, we know of lots of people who have been authorised for holidays."
Image by: Alex Cousins SWNS
Image by: Alex Cousins SWNS
Image by: Alex Cousins SWNS
The holiday was paid for by friends and family who hosted a fundraising event and donated the money towards a trip abroad.
The term-time dates were chosen by the family due to price constraints.
Darren said he spoke to the local authority, which confirmed it should have taken a few days for the school to respond to a holiday request.
Darren said: "Had the rejection letter come within a few weeks of the application, the family would have been happy to rearrange the holiday."
The letter, written by the school's attendance officer and sent home with Joseph, actually arrived seven weeks later on November 29.
It said: "Parents may request a leave of absence in term time but this can only be authorised in exceptional circumstances.
"I have discussed your request with the headteacher who does not feel this request is exceptional.
"While sympathetic to your circumstances we are unable to set a precedent by authorising leave during term- time."
Nicola Hall, head teacher at Central Lancaster High School, said: "As a school we empathise with the wide range of sensitive issues which require compassion and consideration in all of our families.
"In accordance with regulations imposed by the government, the school has adopted a policy not to authorise term-time family holidays.
"We recognise the importance of children being consistently in school to access their whole curriculum offer.
“We hope all parents understand the limitations placed on schools in granting leave."
Katie and Darren have been invited into school to speak to Mrs Hall.
They are crowdfunding to raise money to pay for the fine. Donate here: https://uk.gofundme.com/f/go-fund-page-for-darren-and-katie-mcdermott
Image by: Alex Cousins SWNS
Racegoer who suffered red wine spill on white outfit transforms wardrobe disaster into pink tie-dye sensation - by pouring on MORE wine
Image by: Mia Williamson
A racegoer who suffered a red wine spill on her white outfit managed to transform her wardrobe disaster into pink tie-dye sensation - by covering it in MORE wine.
Quick-thinking Eleanor Walton, 19, had been at Ripon Races when a rowdy punter bumped into her and spilt red wine over her white jumpsuit.
Mortified her outfit was ruined and fearing she'd have to head home, the teenager rushed over to her friend Mia to hatch a plan.
The quick thinking teens nabbed five glasses of wine from the free bar and headed to the loos to dip dye the garment.
Eleanor stripped off in the toilet cubicle and soaked her Pretty Little Thing jumpsuit in the sink for 10 minutes.
Eleanor, a bar tender from Leeds, then spent the next 20 minutes under the hand-dryer before returning to the races in her transformed outfit.
Image by: Mia Williamson
Image by: Mia Williamson
Image by: Mia Williamson
Friend Mia Williamson, 18, also a bartender, said: "Our intuition just kicked in.
"It was a free bar so I said to Eleanor 'let's go and get as much red wine as we can and we'll sort it out in the toilet'.
"We got in there and she stripped off in the cubicle while I found a plug for the sink.
"I just poured all the wine in one go and hoped for the best.
"We pulled it out the sink and it just happened to turn into this magical, glorious pattern.
"She ended up missing the race she put a bet on though.
"Quite a few people were complementing her on the outfit afterwards.
"It looks like a unique piece."
Furious residents have slammed "disgusting" fly-tippers who dumped pile of rubbish down a public pathway - which is 50 FEET long
Image by: Dan Rowlands SWNS
Furious residents have slammed "disgusting" fly-tippers who have left a public pathway impassable - after dumping a pile of rubbish which is 50 FEET long.
The enormous mound of waste, which stands 12ft high, appeared in the early hours of Friday (19/7) morning.
Items including electrical cables, plugs, circuit boards, children's toys and even corporate waste can be seen piled up.
One container labelled 'highly flammable' was pictured lying in the litter, which appears to have been compacted.
It's thought the stinking mess was dumped out of a HGV between 12.40am and 1.40am on Friday (19/7).
Hundreds of locals in Stockport, Greater Mancs, now have to walk past the rotting pile of waste every day.
The offenders, whose identities aren't yet known, have been described as "selfish", "disgusting" and "shameless".
A nearby resident, who doesn't want to be named, noticed the mound on Saturday (20/07) when he took his dog for a walk.
Image by: Dan Rowlands SWNS
Image by: Dan Rowlands SWNS
He said: "I have walked down here everyday for years and I've never seen anything like it.
"I was completely shocked when I saw, there is such a huge amount of rubbish.
"To be honest it's absolutely disgusting.
"To dump your rubbish anywhere but a tip is wrong, but to do it on a pathway that's used by the public is awful.
"Us who live here have to walk past it and smell it everyday now.
"People have to be careful that their dogs don't go anywhere near it because who knows what's in there?"
He added: "You can tell that it's been dumped here by some sort of professional waste disposal outfit.
"This isn't just a few blokes in their cars, it's an entire lorry full of rubbish.
"The council need to put concrete barriers up to stop vehicles coming down and prevent this ever happening again."
The man said people have been fly-tipping in the area for the past ten years but that no one had ever left this much at once.
Social media user Ray Hall posted on Facebook: "Fly tipping is appalling but it will only increase until the perpetrators, when caught, are made to pay the full cost for its removal."
One person described the incident as "outrageous" and another described the offenders as "filthy".
The pile is on a pathway in Stockport called the Fallowfield Loop.
It has been reported to Greater Manchester Police, Stockport Metropolitan Borough Council and the Environment Agency.
Authorities hope CCTV footage will help uncover who is responsible.
Fly-tipping is defined as the 'illegal deposit of any waste onto land that does not have a licence to accept it'.
In 2016/17 more than one million incidences of fly-tipping were dealt with by councils in England, with an estimated clear up cost of over £58m.
Offenders can be prosecuted and face imprisonment or a fine of up to £50,000.
Image by: Simon Galloway
Image by: Dan Rowlands SWNS
Image by: Dan Rowlands SWNS
CCTV footage of the HGV driving towards the pathway then leaving an hour later has emerged.
The enormous lorry can be seen arriving to the site at 12.40am then driving away after dumping its load at 1.41am.
The videos were captured by a nearby homeowner who has cameras attached to the outside of her house.
A Stockport Council official has described the incident as "extremely disappointing" and assured residents an investigation is underway.
In a statement made this morning (Mon), councillor Sheila Bailey said: "We are extremely disappointed to hear of the fly-tipping incident near the entrance to the Fallowfield Loop in Reddish.
"Due to the scale of this incident we are liaising with the regulating body, the Environment Agency.
"We have already gathered evidence and will be working with the Environment Agency in their investigations to help bring this horrible act and serious criminal offence to justice."
Cllr Bailey has urged anyone with information to email district.group@stockport.gov.uk.
A three-year-old boy died from an incurable cancer - after it was misdiagnosed as a ‘sprained ankle’
Image by: Adam Harnett
A three-year-old boy died from an incurable cancer - after it was misdiagnosed as a ‘sprained ankle’, his family say.
Logan Maclean’s family grew concerned after his right leg was sore and he started limping but medics dismissed it as a sore ankle.
He started hobbling on his right leg but his loved ones say in October 2016 a doctor from his hometown of Largs, North Ayrshire initially diagnosed a sprained ankle.
But after the toddler started losing strength in his arm, he was taken to A&E at Crosshouse Hospital in Kilmarnock, East Ayrshire.
After CT and MRI scans, it was revealed little Logan actually had intrinsic pontine glioma (DIPG), a deadly form of brain cancer that has a zero per cent survival rate.
His heartbroken gran Fiona Govan, 49, said: “We took him to a practice in Largs where the doctor thought he had sprained his ankle, because he was walking awkwardly.
“But on his third visit to A&E they noticed weakness in his arm, which then led them to believe it was a neurological problem.
“They thought he’d had a mini stroke.
“At Crosshouse Hospital they did an MRI then he was referred to the Royal Hospital for Sick Kids in Glasgow and he got put on steroids.
“They started to think it was DIPG but they wanted a biopsy to be certain so they could give him the right palliative treatment.”
Logan had six weeks of radiotherapy from around Christmas 2016 to early February, 2017, but it soon became clear Logan didn’t have long left.
Outreach nurses visited Logan’s mother Sapphire Maclean, 29, and Fiona and some of her daughter’s close friends rallied round to help in the youngster’s final months.
Logan passed away at home on October 17, 2017, only weeks after his third birthday.
He is survived by his little brother Ezra, two, who was only seven weeks old when Logan was first diagnosed.
Fiona, a civil servant from Dalry, North Ayrshire, said: “We were like most families, we’d never even heard of it before.
“A child who developed a limp was now terminal.
“We had to come to terms with it that he didn’t have long and my daughter concentrated on making sure he did.
“We done a make a wish trip to Croatia and weekend for two trips to Calums Cabin in Rothesay.
“There’s nothing you can do, you just need to try your best and make your memories.
“Ezra was too young to have memories of his brother, but we’ve got pictures of him he can look at and we hope that one day he might do something in Logan’s memory.
“Logan was just amazing.
“He was such a gentle wee soul.
“His brother’s feisty, but he was gentler.
“It was a privilege to know him and stand with him.''
Image by: Adam Harnett
Image by: Adam Harnett
Now the family are seeking to raise awareness of the debilitating condition, which affects 30 to 40 children each year in the UK.
DIPG is a tumour located in the middle area - or ‘pons’ - of the brain stem and is the second most common severe brain tumour among children.
Fiona said she is “angry” at the lack of funding and research put into finding a cure and has started an online petition, which has gained more than 40,000 signatures.
Fiona said: “Logan was a joy and shouldn’t have died.
“I’m sad. I wish it wasn’t him or any other child but I’m angry about the lack of research that’s been done.
“It goes wider than DIPG. Even with other children’s cancers so many other kids are left to suffer and there needs to be a lot more focus on tackling child cancers generally.”
Fiona only expected to get 10,000 signatures, but after a “rubbish” response from the government after reaching her first petition milestone, she persevered.
She has since been in contact with the House of Commons Petitions Committee who have supported her in her efforts.
Fiona now needs 100,000 by tomorrow (Mon) for it to be debated in parliament.
The gran of two added: “If there’s a way to get it to 100,000 I’m going to go all out and try anything to get the message out there.
“I do genuinely believe there are other families and MPs who won’t accept a rubbish answer and we’ll demand a better response from the government.
“I’m not going to stop.”
Joanne Edwards, director of Acute Services for NHS Ayrshire and Arran, said: “Our condolences and thoughts are with Logan Maclean’s family.
"We would encourage the family to contact us directly with any concerns about the care or treatment provided to their relative.”
Fiona’s petition can be visited at https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/239638
I'M BLOODY RARE - Meet the woman who has saved countless lives - because she has the rarest BLOOD type in Britain and is its ONLY donor
Image by: James Dadzitis SWNS
Meet the woman who has saved countless lives - because she has the rarest BLOOD type in Britain - and is its ONLY donor.
Sue Olds, 52, has the incredibly rare blood-type -D- and is the only donor of her kind registered with the NHS.
There are only 110 people in the world with the blood type - and 88 of those live in Japan.
It makes Sue's 46 donations so far especially valuable to the NHS - who have used it to save many lives including a baby.
They also take her blood to freeze for future use when anyone else with -D- are in need.
The NHS Blood and Transplant say if she continues to donate during her lifetime she'll have saved or improved a HUNDRED lives.
Sue, a support from Penzance, Cornwall, said she will continue donating as often as possible.
She said: "I had a phone call back in 2004 to say I had a rare type of blood but other than that not a lot of information came forward.
"Then earlier this year the NHS called me and told me the facts and figures, it's a bit overwhelming.
"I started donating blood in 1994 when I would go down with a group from work, we thought it was a good thing to do.
"Ladies can donate every 16 weeks, I've travelled a bit and you can't donate after visiting certain countries but now I'm back in Cornwall and back on track."
Sue's blood type, -D-, is a variant of the Rhesus blood group system, which means her donations can be given to patients with almost any Rh related types.
While the NHS has donors of other rare blood types, such as McLeod and Hy-, her unique trait sets Sue apart and so she is determined to donate as often as possible.
She continued: "As soon as I've finished I'll be on the telephone booking my next appointment.
"It's just one hour of your day ever four months, it's nothing.
"I know it will benefit people who have been in RTAs, or people who are giving birth for example.
"It's something I would encourage everyone to do."
Image by: James Dadzitis SWNS
Image by: James Dadzitis SWNS
An NHS Blood and Transplant spokesman said her blood has "saved or improved" the lives of dozens of people.
They said if Sue "keeps donating three times a year for life, that’s around 100 lives saved or improved."
They added: "What’s crucial is that for some of those patients, Sue will have been the only donor who could help them.
"No other blood that we have could have been used. For patients with the same type, Sue is our only current donor who can help them.
"No-one else’s blood could be given to some recipients without the risk of a potentially fatal transfusion reaction."
They added: ''We can't say how many people in Britain have her blood type, given how rare the type is.
''Basically, so few people have it, it’s hard to get a precise estimate of prevalence.
"But given only 110 known donors in the world have it, and only 30 people outside of Japan, you’d probably be talking a handful, but we don’t know."
Sue's donations could be used for cancer sufferers and chemotherapy patients, people who have suffered traumatic accidents, and for premature babies.
Back in 2017, two units were issued to a baby, one day after the other, and if it weren't for Sue's donations the patient may not have survived.
Sue continued: "It's a virtually painless procedure, and over the years I've got to know the team that come down to Penzance.
"They are a friendly bunch, I give blood and have a bit of a natter and a catch up with them.
"Some of my blood has gone on to save a baby's life. It's overwhelming, it's very emotional.
"Life is very precious, I think whether it's saving a baby's life of a pensioner's, it makes no difference.
"It's such a small thing that you can do but it's massive for the family of the person you save."
Mike Stredder, director of blood donation for NHS Blood and Transplant, said: “We have an increasingly diverse population which means we need increasingly diverse blood donors.
“This can be particularly important in the case of very rare blood types – some types are almost only found in people from certain ethnic backgrounds.
“Our very rare donors like Sue are invaluable and we’re so grateful that she donates. If someone with a very rare blood type falls ill, there may be only a handful of donors in the whole country who can help them, or even just one.
“People from diverse backgrounds are more likely to very rare types and we especially need more black blood donors.”
You can make an appointment to donate blood at www.blood.co.uk
Villagers driven round the bend by 26-mile diversion after 50m road closed cheer themselves up with street party on shut highway
Image by: Ruth Hickmott
Villagers driven round the bend by a 26-mile diversion after a 50m stretch of road was closed cheered themselves up - by throwing a street party on the shut highway.
A short stretch of the A465 at Stoke Lacy, Herefordshire, is closed for eight weeks while work is carried out to strengthen a nearby bridge.
While the road - equivalent to around 11 car lengths - is closed, motorists face a 26-mile detour around country lanes, many of which are single tracks, to travel from one side of the village to the other.
Despite the inconvenience caused to the 450 villagers and hundreds more drivers who use the road each day, residents are using the closure to their advantage.
On Bank Holiday Monday, villagers got trestle tables, sunshades and a paddling pool out for an impromptu street party.
There are also plans to use the road for fetes and flower shows in the next month.
Image by: Ruth Hickmott
Image by: Ruth Hickmott
Image by: Ruth Hickmott
Resident John Walters said: "Closing the road for such a long time is a bit of a pain and it means some of us now have a 26-mile detour home.
"But we're a reslient bunch and when the sun was beaming out over the weekend some bright spark suggested we use the road closure to our advantage so we did.
"It was a lovely day and a good old fashioned English knees-up. We're a very traditional village and it was good to hark back to a more simpler time for a few hours.
"A lot of people are now seeing the benefit of having the road pedestrianised and will use it to hold village events over the next few weeks."
Ruth Hickmott, 58, who lives in Stoke Lacy and is part of the village's heritage project, said: "Basically we held the street party because we could.
"Usually you have to apply to the council for road closures but this just fell into our laps.
"There was no fundraising reason, simply let's have a party on the road because we won't be able to in eight weeks' time.
”The road closure is awkward because it is the main route between Bromyard and Hereford and diversions and despite the village being small, you now have to travel up to 26 miles to go from one side to the other."
The village plans to make use of the road closure again next month with a flower and produce show on the 50m stretch of closed off highway.
A green-fingered couple rented an allotment to grow all their own flowers - for their WEDDING
Image by: Jamie Wolfeld
A green-fingered couple rented an allotment to grow all their own flowers - for their WEDDING.
Tyler and Aimee Morrison spent a year growing colourful blooms which adorned the guests, tables and venue at their nuptials.
Their flowers decorated the buttonholes of the groomsmen's suits and even the confetti was made out of dried petals from their plot.
They grew poppies, dahlias, Cosmos, and sweetpeas, as well as plenty of wildflowers, including blue cornflowers.
Their countryside wedding venue was filled with bouquets, table arrangements, and a floral arch of 20 different types of pink, white, purple and yellow flowers.
And they had enough left over to dry some out and press them - so that they could be showered with a confetti of their own petals as they walked out of the ceremony.
Image by: Jamie Wolfeld
Image by: Jamie Wolfeld
Image by: Jamie Wolfeld
The couple grew all the flowers themselves in an allotment they took on just twelve months before their wedding on August 10 after almost nine years together.
The couple, both 25, from Salisbury, Wilts., described the gardening project as "a steep learning curve".
Tyler, a carpenter, joked: "Up until we got the allotment, my only real experience of gardening was that I had killed a few house plants.
"When we first got the allotment last summer we didn't really have a clear aim in mind. It wasn't our initial thought to grow the flowers for our wedding.
"We've always had the ambition of being quite self-sustaining, and growing our own plants.
"Once we'd decided we'd grow flowers for the wedding, it was quite a steep learning curve.
"We jumped in at the deep end. We had to prepare it all in the winter, so we spent quite a lot of time down there with freezing fingers.
"Then as it got closer to the wedding, with the heat of this summer, we were quite often down there watering the flowers at 7am.
"Sometimes we wouldn't leave the allotment until 10pm. Most of our weekends were spent down at the allotment.
"Minutes definitely turn to hours down there - but we enjoyed it. We weren't sick of it."
He added: "So much can go wrong with extreme weather - some days we would go down there and find the ground as flat as a pancake."
Tyler and his graphic designer bride, Aimee, threw themselves into their wedding project, growing 20 different types of flowers for their venue at Dean Hill Farm in West Dean, West Sussex.
And the couple were certainly not short of ideas on how to use their flowers to decorate their wedding venue.
Tyler said: "In the weeks leading up to the wedding we collected loads of jam jars and dotted them around with flowers in them.
"We also had a floral centrepiece on each table, and I built a wooden arch that we could decorate with flowers."
Image by: Jamie Wolfeld
Image by: Jamie Wolfeld
Image by: Jamie Wolfeld
Aimee's six bridesmaids and Tyler's three groomsmen had bouquets and buttonhole flowers picked from the couple's allotment.
And Tyler said the most "time-consuming" part of the floral arrangements was drying out flowers and pressing the petals to be used as confetti.
He said: "Luckily we had more than enough flowers, and we got quite a good response from people.
"Loads of our friends ended up pitching in to help us arrange the flowers, so it all went smoothly. It was really, really good."
Tyler said his favourite flowers to grow were the small, round poppy seed heads - whilst his new wife preferred the "showy" flowers, like the dahlias.
And the newlyweds don't have any plans to stop there.
He added: "A friend of ours is getting married in three weeks and has asked us to do the flowers for their wedding.
"I think the aim is eventually to turn this into a small business. We've invested a lot in the allotment in the last year, and the flowers always grow back after you cut them."
Image by: Jamie Wolfeld
Image by: Jamie Wolfeld
Image by: Jamie Wolfeld
Image by: Jamie Wolfeld
Desperate mum fears she could lose her son because cannabis oil that stops him having hundreds of daily seizures costs £4,000 a month
Image by: Rachel Rankmore
The family of a teenage boy with a rare form of epilepsy are struggling to pay for his £4,000 a month cannabis oil which stops him having hundreds of seizures a day.
Bailey Williams, 17, has had epilepsy since the age of two, but in recent years it has became so severe he would regularly fall to the floor and turn blue.
Doctors tried everything - endless kinds of drugs and therapies - but nothing worked, until a law change meant he was able to have full extract cannabis oil.
Bailey, from Cardiff, was given a prescription from specialist doctors for medicinal use in June, and his parents said it instantly reduced his seizures to less than five a day.
But it is still not available on the NHS, meaning Bailey’s parents have to pay thousands to a neurologist in London for the medicine, which is injected three times a day.
His mum, Rachel Rankmore, 43, called on the NHS to start providing prescriptions so families do not lose out because they can't afford the drug.
Image by: Rachel Rankmore
Image by: Rachel Rankmore
Former banker, Rachel, said: “Without it, he has hundreds of seizures a day and it’s damaging his body.
“He has developed learning difficulties, mental delays and it has changed his personality.
“I thought the seizures might kill him. It’s heartbreaking and I’m scared I’ll lose my son.
“He has improved dramatically since being on cannabis oil and he’s only been on it two months.
“I finally feel like I’ve got my son back and I couldn’t bare to go back to what it was like before.
“But we are not by any means rich and that is just unsustainable. We can’t afford it.”
Bailey has Lennox–Gastaut syndrome, a form of epilepsy only found in around five of every 100 children with the condition, and was diagnosed aged two.
At first his condition was manageable for his parents, Rachel and Craig Williams, 48, a garage manager, and he only had a fit once or twice a month.
But his seizures got worse and by the age of seven Bailey was fitting hundreds of times a day.
His family changed his diet in a desperate bid to stop the seizures, but when that didn't work inserted a device into Bailey's chest, aged seven.
It sends signals to his brain that helped to limit the frequency and severity of his fits, but it only worked for a short time.
At its worst Bailey’s seizures make him fall to the floor and turn blue, and often leave him wheelchair bound and unable to feed himself or talk.
Mum-of-two, Rachel, said: “We have bunged him up on so many drugs but nothing has seemed to work.
“He has different types of seizure and they make him screech and shake.
“He has drop seizures where he does fly across the room and fall to the floor.
"He'll turn blue and be in a complete comatose state afterwards where he can’t walk or talk or do anything.
“The seizures are just horrific. When they happen you can hear every bone in his body creak.
“It’s absolutely heartbreaking but we’ve had to learn to put our emotions to one side.
"It got to the point where there were no drugs left to try.”
Image by: Rachel Rankmore
Image by: Rachel Rankmore
Aged 14, during a hospital admission at the University Hospital of Wales doctors told Rachel there were no more drugs to give Bailey.
So the family took matters into their own hands and started to look into the benefits of treating epilepsy with cannabis oil.
They found a product called Charlotte’s Web, a form CBD cannabis oil sold in the USA, and decided to give it a go.
It cost £300 a bottle and would last about six weeks.
Bailey started taking it in 2015 and at first Rachel said she saw a “great improvement” in his condition.
She said: “It worked a treat. There were no emergency hospital visits or increases in medication.
“At the time we couldn’t get our hands on it in the UK.
“But even that reached its potential. He’s seizures go more violent again to the point where he had no quality of life.
“He could be sat playing one minute and the next he could be on the floor shaking.
“He ends up being sat in a wheelchair unable to walk or talk.”
Last November a change in the law made cannabis with Tetrahydrocannabinol (THC) - a psychoactive constituent of cannabis - available for prescription from specialist doctors.
It has allowed him to be treated with a cannabis oil called Bedrolite, since June.
But it's not available on the NHS, forcing Bailey’s family to pay for a private prescription from a neurologist in London, costing up to £4,000 a month.
The family have already raised around £15,000 to put towards treatment but are crowdfunding for the future.
“The difference the oil has is miraculous," Rachel said.
"The evidence is all there and a lot of children need these prescriptions.
“The improvement has been astonishing. It’s not his fault the cannabis oil works for him and he should not be punished for it.
“If we could get an NHS prescription, that would change everything”, said Rachel.
“We can’t keep asking people for help, we can’t keep begging for money
“Until the NHS start writing prescriptions this is what it will be like."
The National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) has not recommend the wider use of medical cannabis.
Rachel said: “I thought he would be damaged forever but we’ve finally got the old Bailey back.
“It’s been amazing for us and that has been delightful.
“It’s hard to explain what it’s been like caring for a sick child and we need to spend time repairing our family now.
“We need to learn to get our family life back.”
"If we have to give the medicine up he will not be here for much longer.”
Bailey's fundraising page can be found at: www.gofundme.com/f/mission-for-baileys-shakes
Image by: Rachel RankmoreVideo by: Rachel Rankmore
More than 130 seal pups born in River Thames over last 12 months
Image by: Steve Chatterley
It may look like a scene from the Antarctic, but these amazing pictures of a large seal colony were taken on the Thames Estuary.
More than 130 seal pups were born in the River Thames over the last 12 months, according to new figures.
Harbour seals bred 138 newborns in the once filthy river, which is now also home to sharks, seahorse and eels.
Conservationists say it proves the Thames’ ecosystem is now “thriving” after being declared “biologically dead” 60 years ago.
The pictures of the seal colony were taken on the Thames Estuary near Herne Bay in Kent.
Conservation biologist Thea Cox, of the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) which conducted the survey, said: “We were thrilled to count 138 pups born in a single season.
“The seals would not be able to pup here at all without a reliable food source, so this demonstrates that the Thames ecosystem is thriving and shows just how far we have come since the river was declared biologically dead in the 1950s.”
ZSL has estimated Thames seal populations annually since 2013. The most recent results, from 2017, recorded 1,104 harbour seals and 2,406 grey seals across the estuary.
The pioneering pup-count was an attempt to understand why seal numbers in the river are increasing.
Image by: Steve Chatterley
Image by: Steve Chatterley
Image by: Steve Chatterley
Scientists are unsure whether the numbers are rising due to resident seals having pups or because adults are migrating from other regions where colonies are known to be dwindling.
The ZSL team analysed hundreds of photos taken during the seal’s summer pupping season as part of UK-wide seal monitoring initiatives.
They took photos from a light aircraft as the seals rested on the sandbanks and creeks below, making it easier and more accurate to count the constantly moving, playful creatures.
The Thames is home to both harbour seals and grey seals, but only the former breed there.
Project manager Anna Cucknell, who leads ZSL’s Thames conservation, said: “Incredibly, harbour seal pups can swim within hours of birth which means they are well adapted to grow up in tidal estuaries, like the Thames.
“By the time the tide comes in they can swim away on it. Grey seals, on the other hand, take longer to be comfortable in the water, so breed elsewhere and come to the Thames later to feed.”
“The restored ‘Mother Thames’ - as we call her - is an essential nursery habitat and home to many animals including more than 100 species of fish, including two species of shark, short-snouted seahorses and the Critically Endangered European eel.”
ZSL is launching its virtual reality experience ‘Thames Safari’ as part of the Totally Thames Festival later this week.
It will allow explorers to learn about the animals - including seals - as they journey through one of London’s most important wildlife habitats.
Video by: Ashley Moran
