UK singer Liam Payne's "serious kidney infection"; NZ actor Jodie Rimmer' rheumatoid arthritis ("excruciating pain"); 8-year-old girl has a stroke; 3 Belgian cyclists' "severe heart problems" post-jab
Nine near-fatal episodes all over Italy; "Community [in Wellington] rallies behind owner of historic store facing breast cancer"; NZ doctors tell 15-year-old girl her agonies are "all in her head"
UNITED KINGDOM
Liam Payne Hospitalized with ‘Serious Kidney Infection’
August 25, 2023
Singer Liam Payne, 29, has been hospitalized. On Friday, Payne revealed that he is suffering a “serious kidney infection,” which is forcing him to delay his tour in South America. Along with a video, he wrote on Instagram, “It’s with a heavy heart I have to tell you that we have no other choice but to postpone my upcoming tour of South America. Over the past week I’ve been in hospital with a serious kidney infection, it’s something I wouldn’t wish on anyone, and doctors orders are that I now need to rest and recover.”
Family's shock after eight-year-old daughter has stroke
August 16, 2023
A mother from County Down has spoken of her shock after her eight-year-old daughter had a stroke. Naomi Graham from Annalong, County Down, was attending a youth club in Kilkeel in February when she collapsed. Parents Ruth and Gareth Graham rushed to the youth club and took Naomi in a car to Daisy Hill Hospital in Newry. "She wasn't really responding to us, her eyes were rolling in the back of her head and she had vomited a few times in our car," Mrs Graham said. "When we got to hospital you could see one side of her face wasn't working, she was clenching her arm and she couldn't move. I remember saying to Gareth: 'I think that looks like a stroke' and he just looked at me and said: 'Ruth, she's eight, it's not a stroke' and we sort of brushed that aside." Mrs Graham told BBC News NI she distinctly remembered being in the hospital and doctors asking her daughter a number of questions. "They asked her questions like where she was and who she was with," she said. "I thought they were quite silly questions initially because how do you not know where you are when you're in a hospital, but she looked at Gareth and she didn't know him. She didn't know her dad, and she didn't know me." Naomi was then transferred to the Royal Victoria Hospital in Belfast for an MRI scan. After three days in hospital, Ruth and Gareth were told that Naomi had indeed had a stroke and may never regain full function of one side of her body. "It was a complete shock, I had never heard of an eight-year-old having a stroke," Mrs Graham said. Alasdair O'Hara, director of the Stroke Association in Northern Ireland, said the average age for someone to have a stroke in the UK was 76 years old, but it could happen at any age. "Strokes in children are far less common than older adults, but in the UK alone, there are about 400 childhood strokes per year," he said.
BELGIUM
Remembering Three Young Cyclists From a Single Belgian Team Who Were Suddenly Afflicted With Severe Heart Problems Shortly After Receiving the Covid Vaccine
August 18, 2023
On August 15th, 2021, Yarno van Herck, a rising star of the Acrog-Tormans cycling team, began having shooting pains in his chest during a junior-division race in the Flemish town of Vorselaar. Van Herck would fight through the pain to somehow make it to the finish line. But after the race, his parents would rush him to the hospital, where he would be diagnosed with myocarditis and admitted to intensive care. Yarno van Herck was 15 years old at the time. Two days earlier, he had received a first dose of the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine. But what makes the incident particularly significant is that van Herck was the third member of the Acrog-Tormans junior squad to develop heart problems in the immediate aftermath of COVID-19 vaccination in a period of just three weeks. The summer of 2021 was, of course, the summer of the roll-out of COVID-19 vaccines to younger age groups.
According to the team’s sporting director Jef Robert, three weeks before the Vorselaar incident, van Herck’s then 17-year-old teammate, Joppe Erpels, developed severe heart problems one day after a race and likewise just two days after being vaccinated against COVID-19. Erpels would also be admitted to intensive care. Indeed, his condition was so serious that, according to Robert, there were fears for the young man’s life.
A third team member, Xander Verhagen, developed heart problems while training just one day after being administered a COVID-19 vaccine. The then 17-year-old Verhagen was able to avoid hospitalisation and recover at home.
At the time, the Acrog-Tormans junior squad consisted of just 80 cyclists. According to Jef Robert, all of them were vaccinated. Three out of 80 gives a rate of cardiac events in the aftermath of vaccination of greater than one in 27!
ITALY
Sudden illness while swimming - man in grave condition, heart massage while transported to hospital
August 25, 2023
Castiglione della Pescaia - A course against time, around 11 this morning 25 August, at Punta Ala in Casetta Civinini. A 73-year-old got sick while swimming. Help arrived quickly and the medical staff transported him in critical condition to Misericordia hospital, all the while doing heart massage.
It’s the “heat” again:
Upper Garda - Ill from the heat while working, a young worker fights for his life
August 24, 2023
Upper Garda - He was putting up the scaffolding on a construction site when he fell ill from the unbearable heat. The incident took place on Wednesday afternoon at a construction site in Riva del Garda. Now he, a 33-year-old Georgian worker, is hospitalized, where he is in very serious condition and the prognosis is reserved. The emergency call went off yesterday after 3 pm. It was the first day of the construction site and all the workers were setting up the scaffolding to be able to start the work. The temperature was around 38 degrees [100F], but, with a humidity rate above 80%, the perceived heat exceeded 40.
The 33-year-old was passing the material to colleagues when he felt ill and an ambulance had to be called immediately. He collapsed to the ground and immediately lost consciousness. The Arco 118 stretcher took him urgently to the Benacense sports field where the 118 helicopter landed shortly thereafter. He was then transported to the Santa Chiara hospital, where he is fighting for his life.
Illness in the square during Mazzone's funeral: help intervenes
August 21, 2023
Illness in Piazza del Popolo in Ascoli Piceno during the funeral of Carlo Mazzone. In the Church of San Francesco, relatives, friends, team delegations and some fans attended the service. Outside, however, in Piazza del Popolo, many fans came to follow the celebration on a big screen. The time (4.30 pm) and the heat did the rest. A young man suffered an illness and would have even risked ending up against a pole. The relief efforts of the Red Cross, present on the spot, immediately left. Fortunately nothing serious. A few minutes later, even a little boy, wearing a Roma shirt, also felt a lack of strength. Normal, given the heat. Immediately the same rescuers repeated the above procedures and, inside the ambulance, also provided assistance to the boy.
Football, fear for the team that plays in the second category Lagundo, 28-
year-old footballer in cardiac arrest
August 23, 2023
It should have been a normal test match. Lagundo (second category) had just entered the field for training on Tuesday evening when a 28-year-old player suddenly felt ill and collapsed. The coach, Christian Avancini, immediately realized the seriousness of the situation, had the emergency called and tried to revive the athlete with the defibrillator. Two nurses from the Lido rushed to help. The emergency doctor and the rescuers of the White Cross acted as a bridge until the arrival of the Pelikan 1 emergency helicopter, which transported the young man to the hospital in Bolzano. In the intensive care unit he was placed in an induced coma. According to the youth coach, Mathias Bria, his condition is stable. He should soon be awakened from an artificial coma.
Falconara - He has an illness and passes out on the balcony: a young man saved by the watchful acrobat
August 22, 2023
Just in the days in which the local police are at the center of a dispute over its use in various areas of the city, the local police officers over the weekend just ended saved a young man who had been struck by an illness and was unconscious while he was alone at home. The boy had passed out on the balcony of his apartment: a passerby noticed him, who immediately called a local police patrol engaged in a checkpoint not far from the area. An agent reached the balcony through that of a neighbor, entered the house and was able to open the door to the 118 rescuers, who in the meantime had been called by the local police.
Piazzatorre - Caught by a sudden illness during an excursion, the 23-year-old was transported to the hospital
August 22, 2023
The alarm was raised yesterday afternoon, August 21, when a 23-year-old boy fell ill during an excursion just above the town of Piazzatorre, in the Bergamo area. After the call to 112, received around 3.30 pm, the intervention of the mountain rescue was timely. Four technicians were promptly brought to the area, including a doctor, to help the 23-year-old who had fallen ill along the path leading to the Gremei refuge. Meanwhile, an ambulance has also arrived at the scene. Following the medical evaluation, the boy was transported to the hospital. The intervention ended in the late afternoon with the return of the teams.
Val delle Lanze – 49-year-old rescued by helicopter
August 20, 2023
Lanze Valley - A sudden illness during the excursion forced a 49-year-old from Tonezza del Cimone to ask for help. The man was walking along the forest road of the Val delle Lanze on the Altopiano dei Fiorentini when he was taken ill in a clearing. The call to the Suem headquarters in Vicenza immediately went off, made by the friend who was with him at the time. The two were immediately joined by a fast first team from Tonezza and then by a second team from Arsiero.
10-year-old girl gets sick while in the Acqua Village in Cecina
August 18, 2023
Cecina (Livorno) – A 10-year-old girl was hospitalized in serious condition for having fallen ill around lunchtime at the Acqua Village in Cecina (Livorno). Immediate intervention of the rescuers of the local public assistance on the spot.
Illness for Paola Egonu after the match at the Verona Arena (24)
August 16, 2023
Verona – The evening to forget for Paola Egonu ended with a slight illness in the locker room of the Verona Arena after the match against Romania, the opening match of the European Volleyball Championship. It was Sylvia Nwakalor who noticed the conditions of her partner who immediately raised the alarm. Apparently, from an initial reconstruction it could be a panic attack, from which Egonu then recovered, refusing hospitalization. The alarm, however, would seem to have already subsided: the blue trained regularly with the rest of the team in the afternoon.
No age or cause of death reported.
NEW ZEALAND
New Zealand actress Jodie Rimmer’s hidden battle: ‘Chronic pain can be isolating’
August 20, 2023
Auckland - Beloved Kiwi actress Jodie Rimmer was spending her days working on the Netflix favourite Sweet Tooth two years ago when her health took a drastic turn one evening. While alone at her Auckland home, the mum-of-two suffered excruciating pain as her neck and right arm seized up. Panicked, she called an ambulance. Worried Jodie might be suffering a heart attack, paramedics arrived quickly and took her to hospital, where she stayed overnight as doctors unsuccessfully tried to pinpoint the reason for her pain. It wasn’t until two months later that the former Shortland Street star was diagnosed with rheumatoid arthritis, an autoimmune disease.
Community rallies behind owner of historic store facing breast cancer
August 26, 2023
Golden Bay - Sukhita Langford felt completely fine when she had a mammogram two months ago. With no history of breast cancer in her family, and no symptoms, the owner of the historic Langford's Store in Bainham, Golden Bay, visited a mobile breast screening unit for a two-yearly check-up. In her understated way she said the results were “quite a surprise”. “They told me I actually had not one but four lumps. I’m not one to do anything by halves.” Three days later she caught Covid for the first time. That was in June. It's been a rollercoaster ride since for the 52-year-old, her husband Will Hutchison, and their two children Jacob and Amber. The couple have run the store, opened by her great-grandfather EB Langford in 1928, for the past 15 years, taking it over from her second cousin Lorna Langford who had it for 61 years.
Chronically ill teen told her pain 'wasn't real' by Wellington hospital
August 16, 2023
Wellington - A chronically ill teenager says she has been left with "severe medical trauma" after doctors accused her of faking her pain and told her all her issues were in her head. Fifteen-year-old Eva Baker says her time at Wellington Regional Children’s Hospital in 2022 has led to her losing faith in medical staff and care. Eva was admitted to hospital on June 16, 2022, after months of not being able to eat without vomiting. She was suffering from pain in her stomach, nausea, headaches and dizziness. “Throughout the three months I spent on the children’s ward, I was mistreated, medical gaslighted and was inflicted with such severe medical trauma that it now affects my everyday life,” Eva said. One year on, Eva Baker is still coming to terms with her experience. She has seen a private clinician who has diagnosed her with functional dyspepsia, which refers to recurring symptoms of an upset stomach that have no obvious cause. Baker is undergoing further testing and early signs show she may have gastroparesis, a condition that affects stomach muscles, or vascular compressions, which is when a person’s blood vessels are under abnormal pressure.
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I think I get it now. Always believe a 15 year old who says she wants to be a boy. But never believe her when she's in extreme physical pain, again and again.
Somebody should follow that 80 member Belgian cyclist team medically for a few decades. It's likely that the three kids who got symptomatic myocarditis will have dramatically shortened lifespans, and the others likely had lesser(asymptomatic) heart damage but still will likely have shortened lifespans. That data doesn't help anyone here and now, but when historians analyze this time period (a repeat of the dark ages) a hundred years from now, that prospective study will be definitive in demonstrating the long term damage of this global experiment.