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. “...
In Your Head
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 ...
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.” ...
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 ...
18th December 2018
When Jennifer Rout had an attack of vertigo on holiday, it turned her world upside down – both literally and figuratively. Nearly six years later, life is pretty much normal again, but it’s been a long journey. “In January 2013, whilst ...
9th May 2017
“I first noticed problems with my vision when I was just 10 years old,” says Charlotte. “At the beginning of the school year I could read what the teacher wrote on the board but by the end of the year I ...
31st March 2017
It was just a chance encounter between two old friends who had met at university. But when Javier told Carlos of his vision problems, Carlos offered to perform surgery that would solve the problem. Perhaps we should mention at this ...
15th March 2017
Regina Bisikiewicz didn’t start out intending to become a full-time mental health advocate. She just wanted her son to get better. From the moment her 18-year-old son had his first psychotic episode in 2005, the mother of four encountered a ...
12th October 2016
Rhian Lewis couldn’t believe it when doctors turned on her bionic eye for the first time. The 50-year-old from Wales has retinitis pigmentosa, a disease involving a faulty gene in which a person’s vision dims from the periphery ...
7th October 2016
Wearing devices that monitor physical changes in our bodies has become the new norm. But what if this so-called ‘wearable technology’ could track our mental health, too? The idea isn’t as far-fetched as it may sound. Soon we’ll ...
13th September 2016
As a writer, I have my selection of favourite words in the English language. Words like orang-utan, spiralizer, and cocoon. However, to me, the best word in the English language is: warrior. While for some of you this word might ...
29th August 2016
Tony Seidl was shocked when, at age 39, doctors diagnosed him with Parkinson’s disease. After all, isn’t it something people’s grandparents have? In fact, most of the one in 500 people who have Parkinson’s are over 50 but you ...
13th June 2016
After enduring regular epileptic seizures and trying new treatments for nearly three decades, Hélène Gonnot was fed up. The epilepsy medication that she’d been taking since her teens wasn’t working and Hélène’s doctors ...
26th May 2016
Avid mountaineer Ginty Telfer-Wilkes refuses to let multiple sclerosis get in the way of her sky-high pursuits. Since being diagnosed with the neurological condition last year, Ginty has made it her personal mission to show the world that people with ...
19th January 2016
Rhian Johnson had seen nothing for five years until a ‘bionic eye’ gave her back her sight. Just as doctors can help deaf people to hear again, this breakthrough is the latest inspirational story of how scientists can save our ...
12th January 2016
The stigma and misunderstanding that surround mental illness in developing countries leads to humiliation and hardship. Maurilia’s family had tied a rope around her neck to restrain her after a series of aggressive outbursts. Once a healthy and active ...
3rd December 2015
You may not find this definition in the dictionary, but for National Deaf Children’s Society (NDCS) Roadshow manager Damian Ball, it’s the one that matters most. Damian inspires young deaf people every day by driving around to schools ...
29th October 2015
As a stroke coordinator for a hospital, Teri Ackerson knew the signs of a stroke, and what to do if someone displayed those symptoms. What she didn’t know was that sooner rather than later she would need to put ...
4th June 2015
When we use a radio, we switch it on, tune into the station we want to listen to and then adjust the volume by turning it up and down. Could we switch conditions like Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s off ...
19th April 2015
Nobody is at their best after a bad night’s sleep, so imagine how you would feel if you never slept well. Like, never ever. Pretty desperate, huh? This was the reality for Stuart Lamont before he got treatment for ...
9th February 2015
Remember those braces you had to wear when you were younger? Or how you felt when your dentist suggested that you should get them in your thirties? Only the thought of smiling in public was terrible; hiding those metallic devices ...
8th January 2015
It seems we just can’t get enough of wearables. But while on one hand developers are working on making them more discreet or even fashionable (ear buds, anklets, wristbands) there seems to be a group who decide to take ...
8th January 2015
Smartphones have for long been so much more than smartphones. They can give us an eye exam, tell if we have an ear infection, help in managing diabetes. Diagnostics is one of the area leading the way, using phones as ...
8th January 2015
Last year was all about fitbits, wristbands, and smartwatches. Accessories you wear on your wrist that track your activity, log it, analyze it, and then give suggestions. But still in their infancy they may need to hand it over to ...
12th December 2014
If you’re one of the millions of people around the world who chooses contact lenses (or has perfect sight), you’ll already know how amazing it feels to drive, swim or just go for a walk in the rain ...
They call it the long goodbye. People with Alzheimer's disease slowly but surely slip away, losing their memory and, often, their personality. They forget their families, and their loved ones barely recognise the person they once knew. It begins with ...
27th November 2014
The orthodontist’s chair is one of those universally feared places. No need to deny that. Cavities, drills, shoves and pulls; plenty of reasons to feel uneasy. When you’re hitting puberty, you get another reason to palpitate: braces. Let’...
18th November 2014
“There’s not been any real innovation for those deaf who cannot speak . . .” says founder of Motionsavvy, Ryan Hait-Campbell. And I believe him. Because if there’s anyone who would know about revolutions for the deaf, it’s a tech-savvy ...
26th October 2014
Imagine you had never heard sound – until your doctor flicked a switch and introduced you to a sense you had never known. Or think for a moment what it would mean to you to lose your hearing as a child ...
8th October 2014
A 66-year old grandmother of two made headlines last week from the BBC to the Atlantic. And rightly so. Fran is now able to see again after 10 years of blindness. Fran lost her sight over the course of several years ...
3rd October 2014
Ancient (and not-so-ancient) prostheses like the glass eyes of the 1800s and wrought iron arms of the middle ages did nothing more than cover up problems, doing very little to actually solve them. Today, it's about much more than that. ...
18th September 2014
You may have a feeling, a thought lurking in the back of your head. The tremor, the loss of smell, the slight change in voice. You may think your parents are developing Parkinson’s. The next question is finding out ...
18th September 2014
Neil was born with a rare case of achromatopsia (total colour blindness), a disease causing him to see the world in shades of grey. Colour blindness is one of the most common conditions today: approximately 8% of men, and a 0.5% of ...
18th September 2014
Nine months ago, Elias Brandt switched his television off after watching a movie. The room was silent but he still heard something – a high frequency squeak that he compares to a train slamming on its brakes. The source of the ...
10th September 2014
By now you may have heard of Lachlan. He’s about eight weeks old and at the start of this video, he has all the hallmarks of your average feisty newborn. Only, he’s not so average – he was diagnosed ...
31st August 2014
Researchers have designed a high-tech, low-power sensor that can be placed permanently in a person’s eye to track hard-to-measure changes in pressure and monitor for diseases like glaucoma. The sensor would be embedded with an artificial lens during cataract ...