It’s hard to imagine that your watch could save your life, but that’s exactly what happened to Joe Plumb, who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes as a ...
Karen Finn
14th June 2023
This is how Laura Fricker describes the two blood transfusions that saved her son’s life while she was still carrying him in her womb. “When I was about 15 weeks pregnant with Sebby, my daughter came down with slapped cheek ...
12th May 2023
More than three decades after Michelle Beaver began her career, the award-winning cardiology nurse is as dedicated as ever. We caught up with her on International Nurses Day to talk about the improvements she’s seen in patient care and ...
26th April 2023
Like most expectant mothers, Fiona Oakes planned to birth her children vaginally. However, it soon became apparent that a caesarean section, or C-section, would be necessary. To mark Caesarean Awareness Month, she shares her story with This Is MedTech. Medical ...
20th April 2023
In 2011 I was expecting twins. At week 25 my water broke, and I was admitted to the hospital, where doctors found out I had an infection. I was given antibiotics for the first two days, and I was bedridden for the ...
17th September 2023
It’s hard to imagine that your watch could save your life, but that’s exactly what happened to Joe Plumb, who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes as a child. To mark World Patient Safety Day, he shares his story ...
5th September 2023
Before the age of 30, Yorkshire-based Maree Macey had already been operated on 29 times. She was born with a rare genetic bone growth disorder (Spondyloepimetaphyseal dysplasia) that results in short stature. Her condition made her more prone to injuries that developed ...
19th June 2023
“One minute you wake up fine and you’re ready to start the day and then within the next hour you may have to cancel everything.” This is what every day is like when you live with Sickle Cell Disease, ...
28th February 2023
When Veronica Popa learned that her baby had a rare genetic syndrome and wasn’t expected to live past two years old, she refused to give up hope. Here she shares her story with This Is MedTech to raise awareness ...
27th January 2023
Wendy Davis was a healthy runner in her late twenties when she experienced a sudden heart failure for the first time which led to her being implanted with a pacemaker. Some years later her 8-year-old son had to save her ...
1st December 2022
Photo by 938 Media Aaron Morgan is living his dream as a race car driver, despite a life-changing spinal injury at age 15 that left him paralysed from the lower chest down. To help raise awareness on International Day of Persons with ...
21st November 2022
At 21, Jordan Ramsay got the news that would change her life forever. The mysterious lump that she’d noticed behind her ear a few years earlier was thyroid cancer. “Before my diagnosis, I didn’t know anyone my age who ...
21st October 2022
Photo by Vicky Drachmann Danielle Drachmann has been creating awareness about pathological idiopathic ketotic hypoglycaemia since her children as well as herself were diagnosed. This rare condition affects blood glucose and ketone levels within the body – potentially leading to life-threatening ...
11th October 2022
Anita Tucker was 31 with a one-year-old baby when medical technology flagged that she needed a pacemaker. A few years later, med tech came to her aid again, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Now 46, Anita has not only been ...
4th October 2022
In 2012, UK Royal Air Force musician Shona Brownlee suffered a seemingly minor leg injury, which in fact had caused irreparable nerve and ligament damage. Following an elective below-knee amputation, and supported by a range of prosthetics, Shona is not only ...
8th July 2022
Dan Beever was delighted when he was asked to join a research team evaluating a new cystic fibrosis (CF) digital health hub designed to help people with CF to adhere to their inhaled medications. Dan had not only worked in ...
16th June 2022
Equipped with wearables, smart scales and apps, Global Liver Institute’s Founder, President & CEO Donna Cryer feels empowered to manage her day-to-day health and partner with her doctors in her healthcare. Following her inspirational story on This Is MedTech – ...
17th May 2022
“The first time that I stood up… it was like when you start a run. Now you are a starter for the challenge – the game has begun!” Michel Roccati was 27 years old when he was paralysed in a motorbike accident ...
3rd December 2021
Sam Renke has been challenging misconceptions about disability since she was diagnosed with a rare genetic condition called Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI), or brittle bone condition, shortly after her birth. “I was born with multiple fractures and I actually fractured in ...
1st December 2021
“The thing people are surprised about is how little living with HIV impacts my life,” says CEO of NAM aidsmap, Matthew Hodson. With a full schedule, leading one of the world’s foremost sources of HIV information and sharing his ...
30th November 2021
“When they came and told me it was pancreatic cancer, I thought that was the end,” says 60-year-old Robert Slaven from Scotland. But with an early diagnosis, made possible by medical technology, Robert is now looking forward to getting on ...
16th November 2021
Professional singer Ruth Kiang was working shortly before her labour started. Just a few hours later, Emily and Alice were born. “My pregnancy was very straightforward and as twin pregnancies go, very easy. I was feeling well throughout and there ...
27th October 2021
When Paul McLean suffered a severe stroke at the age of 40 his chances didn’t look good. Thanks to an innovative procedure enabled by medical technology, Paul is now embracing a life filled with adventure and is enjoying watching his ...
20th October 2021
Karen Faulkner was shocked when a spinal fracture led to a surprise osteoporosis diagnosis. Having always led a healthy and active lifestyle, at 60 years old she assumed that her risk of developing osteoporosis was very low. “I couldn’t believe ...
8th October 2021
When international high-jumper Jonathan Broom-Edwards was diagnosed with talipes equinovarus at birth, his mum worried it would hold him back. As he took gold at the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo, he showed just what can be achieved with talipes. “It was ...
28th September 2021
Fitness enthusiast Robyn Cairney was shocked when a cough during exercise led doctors to discover a serious heart condition at age 17. “I was doing some fitness tests at college and after the mile run, I was coughing. It was something ...
16th September 2021
“Knowledge is power,” says 23-year-old graduate Poppy Downes. “I had no idea what sepsis was when I developed symptoms at a dance festival four years ago. It just shows how important it is to be educated about it.” “It was ...
7th September 2021
When jewellery designer and lecturer Hannah Webb had a chest x-ray she thought nothing would come of it. Four years later, she recalls her diagnosis and journey to overcome non-Hodgkin lymphoma. “It was July 2017 and we were staying in a ...
15th July 2021
Karen Hoyt had no idea that there was anything wrong with her liver when her feet started swelling one day while she was riding her bike. A high school teacher, adjunct professor and community volunteer with many active hobbies, Karen ...
7th July 2021
Khadija Stewart-Brown accepted daily insulin injections and finger-prick tests as part of normal life, but then she reached her teens. “I saw the difference between me and my peers and it got annoying,” she says. Khadija has always had to ...
18th June 2021
Kevin Wake’s mother taught him to become a Sickle Cell Disease expert from a young age. Today, the seasoned patient advocate shares his story with This Is MedTech to mark World Sickle Cell Day. “I was diagnosed when I ...
16th June 2021
“They knew I had thalassemia even before I was born, and they knew it was major,” says Amit Ghelani. But with an effective treatment plan, including regular blood transfusions and routine monitoring, Amit, now 35, lives what he happily describes as ...
17th May 2021
At 43, health researcher Nicola McMeekin was blissfully unaware of her hypertension until she had a life-threatening heart injury. “There was no warning. I was sitting at my desk writing an email when I suddenly had pains in my chest, down ...
10th May 2021
Four-year-old Oliver Hardwell shows that he is not going to let pontocerebellar hypoplasia – PCH – hold him back. Oliver is one in a million if not one in a billion. While his diagnosis is not clear cut, genetic tests suggest that ...
3rd May 2021
For Lottie Drynan, having irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) came with some unexpected turns. Despite experiencing a host of symptoms that significantly impact her quality of life, Lottie has found huge comfort in her blossoming role as an award-winning IBS patient ...
28th April 2021
Stewart Armstrong is a force to be reckoned with. Not satisfied with taming his sarcoidosis and life-threatening aspergillosis, last year he demonstrated just what can be achieved, by climbing the height of Mount Everest. Stewart’s health journey started about ...
15th April 2021
“Haemophilia shouldn’t limit what people do,” says Clive Smith, qualified barrister, prominent haemophilia patient advocate and keen sportsman. As if to reinforce his point, Clive has not only competed for Great Britain in the European duathlon championships but is ...
29th March 2021
Daniela Knecht had been suffering knee pain for years when she went looking for a way to continue living her full and active life. The first day after her surgery, she was up and about and feeling fantastic. “You know ...
29th March 2021
Keisha Meek and Nikita Chadha bonded under unusual circumstances. The women met through a shared chronic condition called endometriosis. Like many people with this debilitating gynaecological disorder, it took Keisha and Nikita many years to get a diagnosis. Now they ...
24th March 2021
Five years ago, British local election candidate Samara Barnes was astonished to learn that her persistent cough was tuberculosis (TB). To mark World TB Day, Samara shares her story with This Is MedTech. “I had had a cough for a ...
19th February 2021
Rhianna Urquhart was just starting university when she developed strange and erratic psychiatric symptoms that baffled her doctors. At that time, Rhianna’s mum couldn’t have imagined that her daughter would get to where she is today, back home ...
15th February 2021
Several years ago, Natasha Penney shared the story of her toddler Sebastian, who was diagnosed with a rare form of bladder cancer at 18 months old. Now the six-year-old is thriving. To mark International Childhood Cancer Day, This Is MedTech decided ...
8th February 2021
Rising cycling star Matthew Robertson worried his epilepsy would stop him from achieving his dream: to cycle for Great Britain. To mark International Epilepsy Day, Matthew shares his story, as he continues to show his colours as part of the ...
28th January 2021
“Without the right diagnostics, frankly, I would have died,” says Global Liver Institute Founder, President and CEO Donna Cryer. Little wonder she now spends her time thinking about advancements in medical technologies, not only to optimise her own health but ...
22nd January 2021
“With or without diabetes, there’s nothing you can’t be,” says German field hockey Olympic champion and orthopaedic surgeon Carsten Fischer. But there was a time when Carsten – nicknamed The Man With the Hammer for his ferocious penalty corners – ...
19th January 2021
Karen Marks’ dream had always been to become a mum, but she knew it wasn’t going to be easy. With the help of medical technology, she has overcome the obstacles that she faced and closed 2020 with the family she ...
13th January 2021
Jo Taylor’s situation is something of a double-edged sword. She relies on continuous treatment for secondary breast cancer to maintain a good quality of life, but she doesn’t want that treatment to take over her life. “I was ...
4th January 2021
Simon Leigh had nearly recovered from ankle surgery when he started experiencing intense pain and swelling on the same leg. X-rays and scans led his doctors to an unexpected diagnosis and a little-used medical procedure. “Investigative X-rays showed abnormal bone ...
11th December 2020
Kayleigh Haggo is living proof of her maxim, ‘you can achieve anything you set your mind to’. Fitting with this year’s World Cerebral Palsy Day theme, #CPMakeYourMark, 21-year-old Kayleigh is blazing a trail in the international para-sport of race ...
26th November 2020
Andy Braybrook’s life changed after a near-fatal accident left him permanently paralysed. Three years after his road collision, he is now back on the road and setting his sights even higher. Andy’s story started on the first fine ...
18th November 2020
Before the break in her foot, British middle-distance runner Bobby Clay had no indication that there was anything wrong with her bone health. “I had competed internationally in athletics from a young teenager all the way through to the end ...
3rd November 2020
Three years ago, I needed help getting dressed in the mornings. Now I am a Pilates devotee, living an active, balanced life. My journey with rheumatoid arthritis started out on an otherwise idyllic holiday in France, when I was 42 years ...
6th October 2020
To shine a light on Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Karen Finn shares her story about the importance of breast screening. Last year, I was having some pain in my left breast and it felt like there were some physical changes, ...
29th September 2020
Despite an overwhelming diagnosis, David Stott returned to enjoying life, family time and staying fit, all while helping others with the same condition – the epitome of today’s World Heart Day message, ‘Use Heart … for society, your loved ones and ...
21st September 2020
Stelios Kympouropoulos, Psychiatrist and Greek Member of the European Parliament (MEP). I would encourage everyone to pursue their dreams and not let anything stand in their way. At the age of 14 months I was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) ...
14th September 2020
When Dan Gay found out that he had a faulty heart valve, he faced the biggest challenge of his life: giving up basketball. The professional basketball player was competing at the World Championships when he collapsed on the court. “They ...
3rd September 2020
“I was fully able-bodied until I was eight. Then one day I woke up and couldn’t walk,” says British Paralympic wheelchair racer Nathan Maguire. It took about two weeks before doctors could confirm that Nathan had transverse myelitis, an ...
25th August 2020
For Katharina Bauer pole vaulting is her life’s passion — or as she says, “her big love.” The sport of pole vaulting is not for the faint of heart. Competitors sprint down a track and launch themselves into the air, ...
27th July 2020
When Ronni Marks found out she had Hepatitis C in 1996, there were no patient support groups and the internet was in its infancy. In other words, information was scarce. “My mother was having knee surgery and I went to donate ...
6th July 2020
It seems that everyone has felt the effects of coronavirus to a degree. But some people like Steve Radigan, who shares his story with This Is MedTech, have been impacted more than others. “My initial symptom was an infrequent dry ...
29th June 2020
“I didn't actually realise I had a health problem until I was about seven years old, when my mum told me I had to have an operation on my heart,” says Simone Gomes. This was devastating and confusing. “Even though ...
11th June 2020
Paralympic wheelchair racer Hannah Cockroft wasn’t expected to survive birth, let alone become a top professional athlete. “I had two cardiac arrests within my first 24 hours of life,” the 27-year-old Brit tells This Is MedTech. Doctors managed to resuscitate ...
27th May 2020
Michel Fornasier was born without his right hand. It may not be the most severe disability, but it is a highly visible one. The physical and emotional challenges this caused affected his confidence as a child. Now he has turned ...
18th March 2020
Scottish Member of Parliament David Linden has experienced twice what it’s like to have a child born prematurely. “It’s an incredibly traumatic experience,” he tells This Is MedTech. Although both of David’s children arrived six weeks early, ...
5th March 2020
Mike Rolls says his golf game is stronger as a bilateral amputee than it ever was when he had both his legs. The 37-year-old Australian has come a long way since a deadly infection called meningococcal septicaemia changed the trajectory ...
26th February 2020
Lara Chappell was in complete shock when her one-year-old son Pierre was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder called Angelman Syndrome. She’d been expressing concerns to multiple health professionals about her baby’s delayed development from the time he ...
20th February 2020
Migraines. Depression. Hot flushes. At 41, Tally Hatzakis didn’t know what was going on. She certainly didn’t suspect it could be the menopause. “Looking back, I think it all started with migraines,” Tally tells This Is MedTech. “I had ...
17th February 2020
Pádraig Ó Céidigh had recently been given a clean bill of health and led a healthy lifestyle, so when he began experiencing chest pain, ‘heart attack’ didn’t even enter his thoughts. “I’d gone to the gym at ...
9th February 2020
World Champion hurdler Dai Greene has lived with epilepsy since he was 16. To raise awareness on International Epilepsy Day, the Welsh athlete shares his story with This Is MedTech. “I’d been at a New Year’s Eve party and ...
4th February 2020
When Dave deBronkart had an x-ray for shoulder pain, he received some unexpected news. “The doctor said: ‘Your shoulder is going to be fine, but there’s something in your lung – we’re going to need to do a CT ...
28th January 2020
One phone call from her daughter’s school changed Csilla’s life forever. “The school said that my little girl was feeling ill, so I quickly finished a couple of things at work and rushed to the doctor with my ...
15th January 2020
“I am hopeful that a day will come when the suffering of thyroid patients will be a thing of the past,” says patient advocate and blogger Dana Trentini, aka Hypothyroid Mom. After the birth of her first child in 2006, Dana ...
3rd December 2019
Ami Ireland thought her hearing difficulties were just the remnants of a cold. At the time, she didn’t know this was the first in a series of symptoms that would leave her with permanent disabilities and change her life ...
28th November 2019
On World AIDS Day, author and Emmy Award winning AIDS activist Rae Lewis-Thornton talks about her decades-long journey with the disease and how medtech innovations have supported her. “I believe I was infected with HIV in 1983,” says Rae. “In the ...
20th November 2019
When Catherine Wines lost her appetite, she knew something wasn’t right. “Besides my appetite loss, which was very unusual for me, my urine and stools weren’t normal, so I went to the doctor,” she tells This Is MedTech. “...
15th November 2019
Six weeks before her baby’s due date, Holly Matthews went into hospital to get a headache checked out, not knowing she was going to become a mum much sooner than expected. “They did some tests like blood pressure and ...
24th October 2019
Sarah Thomas recently broke a world record by becoming the first person to swim the English Channel four times non-stop. What’s even more remarkable is that she did it just a year after completing life-saving treatment for an aggressive ...
21st October 2019
Dale Darley didn’t know that she had osteoporosis until she fractured her spine. The British author and book writing coach was living her dream in the hills of Spain when her life changed in an instant. “I suddenly heard ...
16th October 2019
As an elite skier training for the Olympics, Janine Shepherd had built her entire world around sports…until the day she woke up in hospital paralysed from the waist down due to a spinal cord injury. While out cycling on ...
11th October 2019
On World Obesity Day, Stefanie Wirtz opens up about her personal struggle with obesity and the turning point that led her to undergo bariatric surgery. “I’ve lived with obesity since childhood, and like most of those affected, I’ve ...
24th September 2019
Anneliese Kopp was always determined to live a full life. Just a few weeks short of her 85th birthday, after 40 years living in Hersel, Germany, she makes it clear that she is a woman of few regrets. ‘I’ve had ...
18th September 2019
As we stride into September marking a new Sickle Cell Awareness Month, Jemela Williams discusses the disease she’s lived with her whole life and shares her hopes for a future world that better understands it. When Jemela was just ...
11th September 2019
Phil Crow went into hospital for a gallstone removal procedure expecting to be home the next day. Two months later he was still there, fighting for his life after complications led to sepsis. 'In July 2010 I was admitted to hospital ...
22nd July 2019
Marianella is a 38-year-old editor and a keen athlete from Costa Rica. In January 2015, she woke up with a terrible headache, but managed to go to work. Around midday her headache retuned with such force that it knocked her out. ‘...
9th July 2019
After being hooked up to an antibiotics drip in hospital for three weeks, David John Watson had had enough. However, the life-threatening blood poisoning that he’d developed meant another few weeks of intravenous (IV) antibiotic treatment was necessary. It ...
4th July 2019
At age 84, Gerry Phelan thought his breathlessness and fatigue were part of the ageing process, but the symptoms were due to a serious heart condition. Gerry had always been an active man, even after undergoing triple bypass surgery in 2005. However, ...
24th June 2019
Atrial Fibrillation affects millions of lives everywhere around the Globe. Nina Lapshinova, 71 years old patient from Russia, couldn’t think of anything but her disease until she was advised to go through minimally invasive catheter ablation. “It was not about ...
17th June 2019
Serbian tennis pro Nenad Zimonjić talks to MedTechWeek about the total hip replacement surgery that enabled him to continue his career. “It started at Wimbledon in 2009, when I was 33 and ranked number one in the world. After one of the ...
12th June 2019
33-year-old Stuart White was paralysed on his left-hand-side and struggling to speak, following a stroke in the early hours of the morning. After a minimally-invasive procedure, the clot was removed and he walked out of hospital within 24 hours without symptoms. “...
27th May 2019
When Susan Small found out she had Lyme disease, she was in a state of disbelief. She spent most of her time in the city and had never even seen a tick. “I was infected following a tick bite after ...
20th May 2019
When you’re a young adult, the last thing you’re thinking about is arthritis. Robin Hughes and his daughter Eleanor certainly didn’t have it on their minds. But they didn’t have osteoarthritis, the type generally associated with ...
10th May 2019
Kim Opszala thought her eczema had returned when a rash appeared on her face, but it was a disease called lupus. She’d been travelling around Australia before starting university in 2005/06 and upon her return Kim noticed the butterfly-shaped rash ...
15th April 2019
When you’re pregnant, there’s a lot of talk about the “birth plan” – basically a blueprint for how you’d like the baby’s delivery to go in an ideal scenario. But sometimes life doesn’t cooperate and that’...
11th April 2019
When Karen Missenden started having faint tremors in her arm, she had a feeling it wasn’t related to the shoulder surgery she’d undergone a few months earlier. “I went to the GP and had some tests done, but ...
5th April 2019
British author and disability advocate Alice Barker is keen to express her gratitude for the healthcare and medtech “that have enabled me to lead a rich and blessed life.” As someone who has relied heavily on specialised medical care and ...
26th March 2019
Every year, and across the continent, tens of thousands of European citizens older than 50, are invited to participate in a colorectal cancer screening programme. Unfortunately, only in Slovenia, the Netherlands and the Basque country, the vast majority of citizens participate ...
20th March 2019
Bob Bevins was doubtful that surgery could restore his speech and ability to swallow after being diagnosed with oral cancer, but he was willing to try. After all, this was no straightforward operation. It involved a complex 10-hour procedure to ...
12th March 2019
As a full-time carer for her husband, Katy Styles couldn’t afford to lose her eyesight to glaucoma. “My mother has glaucoma, my grandfather and both grandmothers had glaucoma, so I have always been aware of the condition,” Katy tells ...
4th March 2019
“My mum discovered I had a hearing issue when she gave me the phone to speak to my Gran one day and I hung up because to me there was no-one there. I think I was around four or five.” ...
28th February 2019
Gunnar Esiason just celebrated a major milestone: his good health. When you have cystic fibrosis (CF) – a rare genetic disease that creates a build-up of thick sticky mucus in the lungs, digestive system and other organs that can lead to ...
14th February 2019
If it doesn’t hurt, there’s nothing to worry about…right? Wrong. Michiko Shah saved her vision when she decided to get some painless eye symptoms checked out. “One morning last summer I was walking to the train station ...
4th February 2019
When This Is MedTech interviewed Fabian Bolin as he was undergoing leukaemia treatment in 2015, we knew this guy was a force to be reckoned with. Now fully recovered, he wants to tackle the issue of mental health by creating the ...
29th January 2019
Champion miniature golfer Richard Gottfried spent years feeling ill before he discovered that he had coeliac disease and gradually regained his health. Believing he had a common digestive disorder called irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), Richard took IBS medication to ease ...
24th January 2019
At age 29 and with no symptoms, cervical cancer was the last thing on Laura Flaherty’s mind, but she knew she was due for her regular screening. “I’d been given the ‘all clear’ after my last smear test three ...
18th September 2019
As we stride into September marking a new Sickle Cell Awareness Month, Jemela Williams discusses the disease she’s lived with her whole life and shares her hopes for a future world that better understands it. When Jemela was just ...
20th March 2019
Bob Bevins was doubtful that surgery could restore his speech and ability to swallow after being diagnosed with oral cancer, but he was willing to try. After all, this was no straightforward operation. It involved a complex 10-hour procedure to ...
4th February 2019
When This Is MedTech interviewed Fabian Bolin as he was undergoing leukaemia treatment in 2015, we knew this guy was a force to be reckoned with. Now fully recovered, he wants to tackle the issue of mental health by creating the ...
3rd September 2020
“I was fully able-bodied until I was eight. Then one day I woke up and couldn’t walk,” says British Paralympic wheelchair racer Nathan Maguire. It took about two weeks before doctors could confirm that Nathan had transverse myelitis, an ...
17th September 2023
It’s hard to imagine that your watch could save your life, but that’s exactly what happened to Joe Plumb, who was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes as a child. To mark World Patient Safety Day, he shares his story ...
5th September 2023
Before the age of 30, Yorkshire-based Maree Macey had already been operated on 29 times. She was born with a rare genetic bone growth disorder (Spondyloepimetaphyseal dysplasia) that results in short stature. Her condition made her more prone to injuries that developed ...
19th June 2023
“One minute you wake up fine and you’re ready to start the day and then within the next hour you may have to cancel everything.” This is what every day is like when you live with Sickle Cell Disease, ...
14th June 2023
This is how Laura Fricker describes the two blood transfusions that saved her son’s life while she was still carrying him in her womb. “When I was about 15 weeks pregnant with Sebby, my daughter came down with slapped cheek ...
12th May 2023
More than three decades after Michelle Beaver began her career, the award-winning cardiology nurse is as dedicated as ever. We caught up with her on International Nurses Day to talk about the improvements she’s seen in patient care and ...
26th April 2023
Like most expectant mothers, Fiona Oakes planned to birth her children vaginally. However, it soon became apparent that a caesarean section, or C-section, would be necessary. To mark Caesarean Awareness Month, she shares her story with This Is MedTech. Medical ...
20th April 2023
In 2011 I was expecting twins. At week 25 my water broke, and I was admitted to the hospital, where doctors found out I had an infection. I was given antibiotics for the first two days, and I was bedridden for the ...
28th February 2023
When Veronica Popa learned that her baby had a rare genetic syndrome and wasn’t expected to live past two years old, she refused to give up hope. Here she shares her story with This Is MedTech to raise awareness ...
27th January 2023
Wendy Davis was a healthy runner in her late twenties when she experienced a sudden heart failure for the first time which led to her being implanted with a pacemaker. Some years later her 8-year-old son had to save her ...
1st December 2022
Photo by 938 Media Aaron Morgan is living his dream as a race car driver, despite a life-changing spinal injury at age 15 that left him paralysed from the lower chest down. To help raise awareness on International Day of Persons with ...
21st November 2022
At 21, Jordan Ramsay got the news that would change her life forever. The mysterious lump that she’d noticed behind her ear a few years earlier was thyroid cancer. “Before my diagnosis, I didn’t know anyone my age who ...
21st October 2022
Photo by Vicky Drachmann Danielle Drachmann has been creating awareness about pathological idiopathic ketotic hypoglycaemia since her children as well as herself were diagnosed. This rare condition affects blood glucose and ketone levels within the body – potentially leading to life-threatening ...
11th October 2022
Anita Tucker was 31 with a one-year-old baby when medical technology flagged that she needed a pacemaker. A few years later, med tech came to her aid again, when she was diagnosed with breast cancer. Now 46, Anita has not only been ...
4th October 2022
In 2012, UK Royal Air Force musician Shona Brownlee suffered a seemingly minor leg injury, which in fact had caused irreparable nerve and ligament damage. Following an elective below-knee amputation, and supported by a range of prosthetics, Shona is not only ...
8th July 2022
Dan Beever was delighted when he was asked to join a research team evaluating a new cystic fibrosis (CF) digital health hub designed to help people with CF to adhere to their inhaled medications. Dan had not only worked in ...
16th June 2022
Equipped with wearables, smart scales and apps, Global Liver Institute’s Founder, President & CEO Donna Cryer feels empowered to manage her day-to-day health and partner with her doctors in her healthcare. Following her inspirational story on This Is MedTech – ...
17th May 2022
“The first time that I stood up… it was like when you start a run. Now you are a starter for the challenge – the game has begun!” Michel Roccati was 27 years old when he was paralysed in a motorbike accident ...
3rd December 2021
Sam Renke has been challenging misconceptions about disability since she was diagnosed with a rare genetic condition called Osteogenesis Imperfecta (OI), or brittle bone condition, shortly after her birth. “I was born with multiple fractures and I actually fractured in ...
1st December 2021
“The thing people are surprised about is how little living with HIV impacts my life,” says CEO of NAM aidsmap, Matthew Hodson. With a full schedule, leading one of the world’s foremost sources of HIV information and sharing his ...
30th November 2021
“When they came and told me it was pancreatic cancer, I thought that was the end,” says 60-year-old Robert Slaven from Scotland. But with an early diagnosis, made possible by medical technology, Robert is now looking forward to getting on ...
16th November 2021
Professional singer Ruth Kiang was working shortly before her labour started. Just a few hours later, Emily and Alice were born. “My pregnancy was very straightforward and as twin pregnancies go, very easy. I was feeling well throughout and there ...
27th October 2021
When Paul McLean suffered a severe stroke at the age of 40 his chances didn’t look good. Thanks to an innovative procedure enabled by medical technology, Paul is now embracing a life filled with adventure and is enjoying watching his ...
20th October 2021
Karen Faulkner was shocked when a spinal fracture led to a surprise osteoporosis diagnosis. Having always led a healthy and active lifestyle, at 60 years old she assumed that her risk of developing osteoporosis was very low. “I couldn’t believe ...
8th October 2021
When international high-jumper Jonathan Broom-Edwards was diagnosed with talipes equinovarus at birth, his mum worried it would hold him back. As he took gold at the 2020 Paralympics in Tokyo, he showed just what can be achieved with talipes. “It was ...
28th September 2021
Fitness enthusiast Robyn Cairney was shocked when a cough during exercise led doctors to discover a serious heart condition at age 17. “I was doing some fitness tests at college and after the mile run, I was coughing. It was something ...
16th September 2021
“Knowledge is power,” says 23-year-old graduate Poppy Downes. “I had no idea what sepsis was when I developed symptoms at a dance festival four years ago. It just shows how important it is to be educated about it.” “It was ...
7th September 2021
When jewellery designer and lecturer Hannah Webb had a chest x-ray she thought nothing would come of it. Four years later, she recalls her diagnosis and journey to overcome non-Hodgkin lymphoma. “It was July 2017 and we were staying in a ...
15th July 2021
Karen Hoyt had no idea that there was anything wrong with her liver when her feet started swelling one day while she was riding her bike. A high school teacher, adjunct professor and community volunteer with many active hobbies, Karen ...
7th July 2021
Khadija Stewart-Brown accepted daily insulin injections and finger-prick tests as part of normal life, but then she reached her teens. “I saw the difference between me and my peers and it got annoying,” she says. Khadija has always had to ...
18th June 2021
Kevin Wake’s mother taught him to become a Sickle Cell Disease expert from a young age. Today, the seasoned patient advocate shares his story with This Is MedTech to mark World Sickle Cell Day. “I was diagnosed when I ...
16th June 2021
“They knew I had thalassemia even before I was born, and they knew it was major,” says Amit Ghelani. But with an effective treatment plan, including regular blood transfusions and routine monitoring, Amit, now 35, lives what he happily describes as ...
17th May 2021
At 43, health researcher Nicola McMeekin was blissfully unaware of her hypertension until she had a life-threatening heart injury. “There was no warning. I was sitting at my desk writing an email when I suddenly had pains in my chest, down ...
10th May 2021
Four-year-old Oliver Hardwell shows that he is not going to let pontocerebellar hypoplasia – PCH – hold him back. Oliver is one in a million if not one in a billion. While his diagnosis is not clear cut, genetic tests suggest that ...
3rd May 2021
For Lottie Drynan, having irritable bowel syndrome (IBS) came with some unexpected turns. Despite experiencing a host of symptoms that significantly impact her quality of life, Lottie has found huge comfort in her blossoming role as an award-winning IBS patient ...
28th April 2021
Stewart Armstrong is a force to be reckoned with. Not satisfied with taming his sarcoidosis and life-threatening aspergillosis, last year he demonstrated just what can be achieved, by climbing the height of Mount Everest. Stewart’s health journey started about ...
15th April 2021
“Haemophilia shouldn’t limit what people do,” says Clive Smith, qualified barrister, prominent haemophilia patient advocate and keen sportsman. As if to reinforce his point, Clive has not only competed for Great Britain in the European duathlon championships but is ...
29th March 2021
Daniela Knecht had been suffering knee pain for years when she went looking for a way to continue living her full and active life. The first day after her surgery, she was up and about and feeling fantastic. “You know ...
29th March 2021
Keisha Meek and Nikita Chadha bonded under unusual circumstances. The women met through a shared chronic condition called endometriosis. Like many people with this debilitating gynaecological disorder, it took Keisha and Nikita many years to get a diagnosis. Now they ...
24th March 2021
Five years ago, British local election candidate Samara Barnes was astonished to learn that her persistent cough was tuberculosis (TB). To mark World TB Day, Samara shares her story with This Is MedTech. “I had had a cough for a ...
19th February 2021
Rhianna Urquhart was just starting university when she developed strange and erratic psychiatric symptoms that baffled her doctors. At that time, Rhianna’s mum couldn’t have imagined that her daughter would get to where she is today, back home ...
15th February 2021
Several years ago, Natasha Penney shared the story of her toddler Sebastian, who was diagnosed with a rare form of bladder cancer at 18 months old. Now the six-year-old is thriving. To mark International Childhood Cancer Day, This Is MedTech decided ...
8th February 2021
Rising cycling star Matthew Robertson worried his epilepsy would stop him from achieving his dream: to cycle for Great Britain. To mark International Epilepsy Day, Matthew shares his story, as he continues to show his colours as part of the ...
28th January 2021
“Without the right diagnostics, frankly, I would have died,” says Global Liver Institute Founder, President and CEO Donna Cryer. Little wonder she now spends her time thinking about advancements in medical technologies, not only to optimise her own health but ...
22nd January 2021
“With or without diabetes, there’s nothing you can’t be,” says German field hockey Olympic champion and orthopaedic surgeon Carsten Fischer. But there was a time when Carsten – nicknamed The Man With the Hammer for his ferocious penalty corners – ...
19th January 2021
Karen Marks’ dream had always been to become a mum, but she knew it wasn’t going to be easy. With the help of medical technology, she has overcome the obstacles that she faced and closed 2020 with the family she ...
13th January 2021
Jo Taylor’s situation is something of a double-edged sword. She relies on continuous treatment for secondary breast cancer to maintain a good quality of life, but she doesn’t want that treatment to take over her life. “I was ...
4th January 2021
Simon Leigh had nearly recovered from ankle surgery when he started experiencing intense pain and swelling on the same leg. X-rays and scans led his doctors to an unexpected diagnosis and a little-used medical procedure. “Investigative X-rays showed abnormal bone ...
11th December 2020
Kayleigh Haggo is living proof of her maxim, ‘you can achieve anything you set your mind to’. Fitting with this year’s World Cerebral Palsy Day theme, #CPMakeYourMark, 21-year-old Kayleigh is blazing a trail in the international para-sport of race ...
26th November 2020
Andy Braybrook’s life changed after a near-fatal accident left him permanently paralysed. Three years after his road collision, he is now back on the road and setting his sights even higher. Andy’s story started on the first fine ...
18th November 2020
Before the break in her foot, British middle-distance runner Bobby Clay had no indication that there was anything wrong with her bone health. “I had competed internationally in athletics from a young teenager all the way through to the end ...
3rd November 2020
Three years ago, I needed help getting dressed in the mornings. Now I am a Pilates devotee, living an active, balanced life. My journey with rheumatoid arthritis started out on an otherwise idyllic holiday in France, when I was 42 years ...
6th October 2020
To shine a light on Breast Cancer Awareness Month, Karen Finn shares her story about the importance of breast screening. Last year, I was having some pain in my left breast and it felt like there were some physical changes, ...
29th September 2020
Despite an overwhelming diagnosis, David Stott returned to enjoying life, family time and staying fit, all while helping others with the same condition – the epitome of today’s World Heart Day message, ‘Use Heart … for society, your loved ones and ...
21st September 2020
Stelios Kympouropoulos, Psychiatrist and Greek Member of the European Parliament (MEP). I would encourage everyone to pursue their dreams and not let anything stand in their way. At the age of 14 months I was diagnosed with spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) ...
14th September 2020
When Dan Gay found out that he had a faulty heart valve, he faced the biggest challenge of his life: giving up basketball. The professional basketball player was competing at the World Championships when he collapsed on the court. “They ...
25th August 2020
For Katharina Bauer pole vaulting is her life’s passion — or as she says, “her big love.” The sport of pole vaulting is not for the faint of heart. Competitors sprint down a track and launch themselves into the air, ...
27th July 2020
When Ronni Marks found out she had Hepatitis C in 1996, there were no patient support groups and the internet was in its infancy. In other words, information was scarce. “My mother was having knee surgery and I went to donate ...
6th July 2020
It seems that everyone has felt the effects of coronavirus to a degree. But some people like Steve Radigan, who shares his story with This Is MedTech, have been impacted more than others. “My initial symptom was an infrequent dry ...
29th June 2020
“I didn't actually realise I had a health problem until I was about seven years old, when my mum told me I had to have an operation on my heart,” says Simone Gomes. This was devastating and confusing. “Even though ...
11th June 2020
Paralympic wheelchair racer Hannah Cockroft wasn’t expected to survive birth, let alone become a top professional athlete. “I had two cardiac arrests within my first 24 hours of life,” the 27-year-old Brit tells This Is MedTech. Doctors managed to resuscitate ...
27th May 2020
Michel Fornasier was born without his right hand. It may not be the most severe disability, but it is a highly visible one. The physical and emotional challenges this caused affected his confidence as a child. Now he has turned ...
18th March 2020
Scottish Member of Parliament David Linden has experienced twice what it’s like to have a child born prematurely. “It’s an incredibly traumatic experience,” he tells This Is MedTech. Although both of David’s children arrived six weeks early, ...
5th March 2020
Mike Rolls says his golf game is stronger as a bilateral amputee than it ever was when he had both his legs. The 37-year-old Australian has come a long way since a deadly infection called meningococcal septicaemia changed the trajectory ...
26th February 2020
Lara Chappell was in complete shock when her one-year-old son Pierre was diagnosed with a rare genetic disorder called Angelman Syndrome. She’d been expressing concerns to multiple health professionals about her baby’s delayed development from the time he ...
20th February 2020
Migraines. Depression. Hot flushes. At 41, Tally Hatzakis didn’t know what was going on. She certainly didn’t suspect it could be the menopause. “Looking back, I think it all started with migraines,” Tally tells This Is MedTech. “I had ...
17th February 2020
Pádraig Ó Céidigh had recently been given a clean bill of health and led a healthy lifestyle, so when he began experiencing chest pain, ‘heart attack’ didn’t even enter his thoughts. “I’d gone to the gym at ...
9th February 2020
World Champion hurdler Dai Greene has lived with epilepsy since he was 16. To raise awareness on International Epilepsy Day, the Welsh athlete shares his story with This Is MedTech. “I’d been at a New Year’s Eve party and ...
4th February 2020
When Dave deBronkart had an x-ray for shoulder pain, he received some unexpected news. “The doctor said: ‘Your shoulder is going to be fine, but there’s something in your lung – we’re going to need to do a CT ...
28th January 2020
One phone call from her daughter’s school changed Csilla’s life forever. “The school said that my little girl was feeling ill, so I quickly finished a couple of things at work and rushed to the doctor with my ...
15th January 2020
“I am hopeful that a day will come when the suffering of thyroid patients will be a thing of the past,” says patient advocate and blogger Dana Trentini, aka Hypothyroid Mom. After the birth of her first child in 2006, Dana ...
3rd December 2019
Ami Ireland thought her hearing difficulties were just the remnants of a cold. At the time, she didn’t know this was the first in a series of symptoms that would leave her with permanent disabilities and change her life ...
28th November 2019
On World AIDS Day, author and Emmy Award winning AIDS activist Rae Lewis-Thornton talks about her decades-long journey with the disease and how medtech innovations have supported her. “I believe I was infected with HIV in 1983,” says Rae. “In the ...
20th November 2019
When Catherine Wines lost her appetite, she knew something wasn’t right. “Besides my appetite loss, which was very unusual for me, my urine and stools weren’t normal, so I went to the doctor,” she tells This Is MedTech. “...
15th November 2019
Six weeks before her baby’s due date, Holly Matthews went into hospital to get a headache checked out, not knowing she was going to become a mum much sooner than expected. “They did some tests like blood pressure and ...
24th October 2019
Sarah Thomas recently broke a world record by becoming the first person to swim the English Channel four times non-stop. What’s even more remarkable is that she did it just a year after completing life-saving treatment for an aggressive ...
21st October 2019
Dale Darley didn’t know that she had osteoporosis until she fractured her spine. The British author and book writing coach was living her dream in the hills of Spain when her life changed in an instant. “I suddenly heard ...
16th October 2019
As an elite skier training for the Olympics, Janine Shepherd had built her entire world around sports…until the day she woke up in hospital paralysed from the waist down due to a spinal cord injury. While out cycling on ...
11th October 2019
On World Obesity Day, Stefanie Wirtz opens up about her personal struggle with obesity and the turning point that led her to undergo bariatric surgery. “I’ve lived with obesity since childhood, and like most of those affected, I’ve ...
24th September 2019
Anneliese Kopp was always determined to live a full life. Just a few weeks short of her 85th birthday, after 40 years living in Hersel, Germany, she makes it clear that she is a woman of few regrets. ‘I’ve had ...
11th September 2019
Phil Crow went into hospital for a gallstone removal procedure expecting to be home the next day. Two months later he was still there, fighting for his life after complications led to sepsis. 'In July 2010 I was admitted to hospital ...
22nd July 2019
Marianella is a 38-year-old editor and a keen athlete from Costa Rica. In January 2015, she woke up with a terrible headache, but managed to go to work. Around midday her headache retuned with such force that it knocked her out. ‘...
9th July 2019
After being hooked up to an antibiotics drip in hospital for three weeks, David John Watson had had enough. However, the life-threatening blood poisoning that he’d developed meant another few weeks of intravenous (IV) antibiotic treatment was necessary. It ...
4th July 2019
At age 84, Gerry Phelan thought his breathlessness and fatigue were part of the ageing process, but the symptoms were due to a serious heart condition. Gerry had always been an active man, even after undergoing triple bypass surgery in 2005. However, ...
24th June 2019
Atrial Fibrillation affects millions of lives everywhere around the Globe. Nina Lapshinova, 71 years old patient from Russia, couldn’t think of anything but her disease until she was advised to go through minimally invasive catheter ablation. “It was not about ...
17th June 2019
Serbian tennis pro Nenad Zimonjić talks to MedTechWeek about the total hip replacement surgery that enabled him to continue his career. “It started at Wimbledon in 2009, when I was 33 and ranked number one in the world. After one of the ...
12th June 2019
33-year-old Stuart White was paralysed on his left-hand-side and struggling to speak, following a stroke in the early hours of the morning. After a minimally-invasive procedure, the clot was removed and he walked out of hospital within 24 hours without symptoms. “...
27th May 2019
When Susan Small found out she had Lyme disease, she was in a state of disbelief. She spent most of her time in the city and had never even seen a tick. “I was infected following a tick bite after ...
20th May 2019
When you’re a young adult, the last thing you’re thinking about is arthritis. Robin Hughes and his daughter Eleanor certainly didn’t have it on their minds. But they didn’t have osteoarthritis, the type generally associated with ...
10th May 2019
Kim Opszala thought her eczema had returned when a rash appeared on her face, but it was a disease called lupus. She’d been travelling around Australia before starting university in 2005/06 and upon her return Kim noticed the butterfly-shaped rash ...
15th April 2019
When you’re pregnant, there’s a lot of talk about the “birth plan” – basically a blueprint for how you’d like the baby’s delivery to go in an ideal scenario. But sometimes life doesn’t cooperate and that’...
11th April 2019
When Karen Missenden started having faint tremors in her arm, she had a feeling it wasn’t related to the shoulder surgery she’d undergone a few months earlier. “I went to the GP and had some tests done, but ...
5th April 2019
British author and disability advocate Alice Barker is keen to express her gratitude for the healthcare and medtech “that have enabled me to lead a rich and blessed life.” As someone who has relied heavily on specialised medical care and ...
26th March 2019
Every year, and across the continent, tens of thousands of European citizens older than 50, are invited to participate in a colorectal cancer screening programme. Unfortunately, only in Slovenia, the Netherlands and the Basque country, the vast majority of citizens participate ...
12th March 2019
As a full-time carer for her husband, Katy Styles couldn’t afford to lose her eyesight to glaucoma. “My mother has glaucoma, my grandfather and both grandmothers had glaucoma, so I have always been aware of the condition,” Katy tells ...
4th March 2019
“My mum discovered I had a hearing issue when she gave me the phone to speak to my Gran one day and I hung up because to me there was no-one there. I think I was around four or five.” ...
28th February 2019
Gunnar Esiason just celebrated a major milestone: his good health. When you have cystic fibrosis (CF) – a rare genetic disease that creates a build-up of thick sticky mucus in the lungs, digestive system and other organs that can lead to ...
14th February 2019
If it doesn’t hurt, there’s nothing to worry about…right? Wrong. Michiko Shah saved her vision when she decided to get some painless eye symptoms checked out. “One morning last summer I was walking to the train station ...
29th January 2019
Champion miniature golfer Richard Gottfried spent years feeling ill before he discovered that he had coeliac disease and gradually regained his health. Believing he had a common digestive disorder called irritable bowel syndrome (IBS), Richard took IBS medication to ease ...
24th January 2019
At age 29 and with no symptoms, cervical cancer was the last thing on Laura Flaherty’s mind, but she knew she was due for her regular screening. “I’d been given the ‘all clear’ after my last smear test three ...
From pregnancy tests and artificial retinas to prosthetic legs and bionic exoskeletons, we cover the stories behind the medical technologies that changes and saves lives and the people whose lives will never be the same because of it them. We’re sponsored by MedTech Europe, the European trade association representing the medical technology industries, from diagnosis to cure. However we’re not here to sell products or brands or give health advice. Instead, we’re here to talk about the tech that weaves itself into our lives at the moments we’d least expect—we’re here to answer the question “what is MedTech”
Our editorial team works with independent journalists from around the globe to cover the MedTech-centric stories other outlets tend to miss. We like to think of ourselves as one part tech blog, three parts family mag.