Nitrous oxide – known colloquially as “laughing gas” – has many uses, from a painkiller during dental procedures to a whipping agent for canned whipped cream.While its euphoric side effects have long been known, the rise of vaping has helped create a perfect delivery vehicle for the gas – and a perfect recipe for an addiction, experts warn.Meg Caldwell’s death wasn’t inevitable.The horseback rider from Florida had started using nitrous oxide recreationally in university eight years ago. But like many young people, she started to use more heavily during the pandemic.The youngest of four sisters, she was was “the light of our lives,” her sister Kathleen Dial told the BBC.But Ms Caldwell’s use continued to escalate, to the point that her addiction “started running her life”.She temporarily lost use of her legs after an overdose, which also rendered her incontinent. Still, she continued to use, buying it in local smoke shops, inhaling it in the car park and then heading straight back into the shop to buy more. She sometimes spent hundreds of dollars a day.She died last November, in one of those car parks just outside a vape shop.”She didn’t think that it would hurt her because she was buying it in the smoke shop, so she thought she was using this substance legally,” Ms Dial said.The progression of Ms Caldwell’s addiction – from youthful misuse to life-threatening compulsion – has become increasingly common. The Annual Report of America’s Poison Centers found there was a 58 % increase in reports of intentional exposure to nitrous oxide in the US between 2023-2024.In a worst-case scenario, inhalation of nitrous oxide can lead to hypoxia, where the brain does not get enough oxygen. This can result in death. Regular inhalation can also lead to a Vitamin B12 deficiency which can cause nerve damage, degradation of the spinal column and even paralysis. The number of deaths attributed to nitrous oxide poisonings rose by more than 110% between 2019 and 2023, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.Possession of nitrous oxide was criminalised in the UK in 2023 after misuse among young people increased during the pandemic. But while many states have also outlawed the recreational use of the product in the US, it is still legal to sell as a culinary product. Only Louisiana has totally banned the retail sale of the gas.Galaxy Gas, a major manufacturer, even offers recipes for dishes, including Chicken Satay with Peanut Chili Foam and Watermelon Gazpacho on their website. With flavours like Blue Raspberry or Strawberries and Cream, experts warn this loophole – as well as major changes in packaging and retail – has contributed to the rise in misuse.Until recently users would take single-use plain metal canisters weighing around 8g and inhale the gas using a balloon. But when usage spiked during the pandemic, nitrous oxide manufacturers began selling much larger canisters online – as large as 2kg – and, eventually, in shops selling electronic vapes and other smoking paraphernalia.Companies also began to package the gas in bright colourful canisters with designs featuring characters from computer games and television series.Pat Aussem, of the Partnership to End Addiction, believes these developments are behind increased misuse:”Even being called Galaxy Gas or Miami Magic is marketing,” she said. “If you have large canisters, then it means that more people can try it and use it and that can lead to a lot of peer pressure.”The BBC reached out for comment to both Galaxy Gas and Miami Magic but did not receive a response. Amazon, where the gas is sold online, has said they are aware of customers misusing nitrous oxide and that they are working to implement further safety measures. In a response to reporting from CBS News, the BBC’s news partner in the US, Galaxy Gas maintained that the gas was intended for culinary use and that they include a message on their sites warning against misuse.Concern about nitrous oxide misuse increased last year, after several videos of people using the product went viral online.On social media, videos of young people getting high on gas became a trend. A video uploaded in July 2024 by an Atlanta-based fast-food restaurant featured a young man inhaling Strawberries and Cream flavoured nitrous oxide saying “My name’s Lil T, man”, his voice made deeper by the gas. To date the clip has been viewed about 40 million times and spawned thousands of copies.Misuse also featured heavily in rap music videos and Twitch streaming. Guests tried it on the Joe Rogan Show and rappers including Ye (formerly Kanye West) spoke about abusing the substance publicly. Ye has since sued his dentist for “recklessly” supplying Ye with “dangerous amounts of nitrous oxide”.In response to the trend, TikTok blocked searches for “galaxy gas,” and redirected users to a message offering resources about substance use and addiction. Rapper SZA also alerted her social media followers about its harms and slammed it for “being MASS marketed to black children”.In March, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) issued an official alert warning against inhaling the gas after it “observed an increase in reports of adverse events after inhalation of nitrous oxide products”. The FDA told the BBC that it “continues to actively track adverse events related to nitrous oxide misuse and will take appropriate actions to protect the public health”.But for some, these warnings came too late.In 2023, the family of a 25-year-old woman, Marissa Politte successfully sued Nitrous Distributor United Brands for $745m in damages after the radiology technician was killed by a driver high on nitrous oxide. The jury found the company responsible for selling the product in the knowledge that it would be misused.”Marissa Politte’s death shouldn’t have happened in the first place, but my God, it should be the last,” Johnny Simon, the Politte family’s lawyer, said at the time. In the years since there have been several fatal traffic accidents involving the gas both in the US and the UK.Meanwhile, Ms Caldwell’s family have launched a class action lawsuit against manufacturers and distributors of nitrous oxide, hoping to remove the product from retail sales across the US for good.”The people who administer nitrous oxide in a dentist office now have to go through hours and hours of training, she said. “It just is crazy to me that the drug can be purchased in a smoke shop to anyone who goes in.””Unfortunately, it’s become very obvious that the manufacturers and the owners of the smoke shops are not going to do the moral thing and take this off the shelves themselves,” Ms Dial said.

New research involving nearly 200,000 mothers found that one in 12 rated her mental health as fair or poor.The mental health of mothers in the United States declined significantly from 2016 to 2023, according to a large new study published in JAMA Internal Medicine on Tuesday.The percentage of mothers who rated their mental health as “excellent” dropped sharply during the study period. At the same time, the percentage of mothers who said their mental health was poor increased — particularly among those who were single parents, or whose children had Medicaid or were uninsured.The findings come at a fraught moment in the national conversation around parenting and declining birthrates. The Trump administration is said to be weighing strategies to persuade more Americans to get married and have children. But just last year, Dr. Vivek H. Murthy, who was then the surgeon general, warned about declining parental mental health in an advisory that described many who were raising children as “exhausted, burned out and perpetually behind.”The surgeon general’s report led the researchers behind the new study to begin analyzing data from nearly 200,000 mothers who participated in the National Survey of Children’s Health — an annual survey of households with children up to age 17. Researchers found that one in 20 mothers reported her mental health was poor or fair in 2016; by 2023 the ratio was about one in 12. In contrast, one in 22 fathers surveyed reported fair or poor mental health in 2023.There are limitations to the study, which was cross-sectional — meaning it looked at snapshots in time but did not follow the same women year over year. It also relied on self-reporting. Still, the findings are not surprising to experts in the field of maternal mental health, who have been observing the decline in emotional well-being for years.Dr. Tamar Gur, endowed director of the Soter Women’s Health Research Program at Ohio State University, said that if nothing else, the new findings would help reassure the mothers she treats that they are not the only ones struggling.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that the vaccine would not be included as part of the immunization schedule for healthy children.The Covid vaccine will no longer be recommended for healthy children or healthy pregnant women, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced on Tuesday.The vaccines had been recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention since they first became available for those groups several years ago.“I couldn’t be more pleased to announce that as of today, the Covid vaccine for healthy children and healthy pregnant women has been removed from the C.D.C. recommended immunization schedule,” Mr. Kennedy said in a video he posted on X.Before becoming part of the Trump administration, Mr. Kennedy had long campaigned against vaccinating children to protect them from Covid. In making the announcement, Mr. Kennedy seems to have reneged on a promise he made to Senator Bill Cassidy, Republican of Louisiana, not to alter the childhood immunization schedule.Flanked by Dr. Marty Makary and Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, who lead the Food and Drug Administration and the National Institutes of Health, Mr. Kennedy said in the video announcement that there was no clinical data to support additional shots for healthy children.However, pediatricians point out that the youngest infants face among the highest risks for hospitalization, similar to older adults.We are having trouble retrieving the article content.Please enable JavaScript in your browser settings.Thank you for your patience while we verify access. If you are in Reader mode please exit and log into your Times account, or subscribe for all of The Times.Thank you for your patience while we verify access.Already a subscriber? Log in.Want all of The Times? Subscribe.

Listen to and follow ‘The Daily’Apple Podcasts | Spotify | Amazon Music | YouTube | iHeartRadioAfter the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade, abortions in the United States actually went up, in part because of a novel legal strategy that pitted blue states against red states.Pam Belluck, who covers health and science for The Times, discusses that strategy and explains how proceedings against a New York doctor could take it apart.Unlock full access to New York Times podcasts and explore everything from politics to pop culture. Subscribe today at nytimes.com/podcasts or on Apple Podcasts and Spotify.On today’s episodePam Belluck, a health and science reporter at The New York Times.Abortion drugs like Mifepristone have been used to access abortions in states where it is illegal.Evelyn Hockstein/ReutersBackground readingThe Louisiana case appears to be the first time criminal charges have been filed against an abortion provider for sending pills into a state with a ban.From 2024: Abortion shield laws are a new war between the states.There are a lot of ways to listen to ‘The Daily.’ Here’s how.We aim to make transcripts available the next workday after an episode’s publication. You can find them at the top of the page.Fact-checking by

4 hours agoShareSaveShareSaveBBCTracey Meechan’s pain from an ovarian cyst is so severe she can’t bend over – she relies on her children to help her put her shoes and socks on.Every day the 41-year-old wakes up and wonders if any new symptoms are going to appear.She has been on an “urgent” NHS waiting list for surgery for 100 weeks and now feels “forgotten”.As the latest NHS Scotland waiting times data is due to be published, Mrs Meechan told BBC Scotland News that the wait for treatment has affected every part of her life.’It’s a drudge’She said: “I can’t live my life to the fullest. I can’t do the activities I want to do with my kids. I can’t do the job that I love.”I was signed off work at the end of January as a home carer because of the pain and the physicality of my job – I can’t do it.”My mental health has declined. This has been years and the symptoms have worsened. It’s impacted my life, my personal life and my family.”Mrs Meechan, from West Dunbartonshire, said she had to rely on her husband for household tasks.”There is just no end point to it,” she said. “It’s a drudge.”And there is only so much pain relief I can take and still try to be a mother to my children.”The mother-of-five first went to her GP in 2021. She was found to have a large ovarian cyst and waited a year to see a gynaecologist after a referral from her GP.After monitoring the cyst for six months, it had grown, so she was put onto the “urgent” list for surgery.It is now 100 weeks later and she has not been called for an appointment.She said: “I was under the impression it would be relatively soon as I was asked if I had any holidays planned in the immediate future. “About a year ago I was advised by the GP to try to get in touch with the gynaecology secretary myself and I have been doing that on a regular basis letting them know I am still here and still waiting.”She considered private health care but her surgery would cost £8,000 – something the family could not afford.It was then she contacted the BBC through Your Voice, Your BBC News. She says the NHS has moved the goalposts each time she has called to ask about her surgery date.”It’s another couple of months, or they are working on the routine list, or working on the long waiters,” she said. “I was told at week 92 that they were working on women round about week 98-99, so it should be another couple of months.”When I did get to week 99, I called up because I wanted to keep my employer up to date. I was told they couldn’t give me a date and still nothing is fixed yet.”Before the pandemic it was rare for anybody to face a wait of a whole year to start NHS treatment, but that is not the case now.We’ll have new data from Public Health Scotland this morning, but the most recent figures show almost 25% of the entire inpatient waiting list for non-urgent care is made up of waits longer than 52 weeks.In gynaecology, the specialty that Tracey comes under, there were 291 waits of over three years.Waiting always has consequences – more frequent visits to the GP to manage pain, struggles to work or stay healthy in other aspects of life.The government says tackling waits is a priority and has set a target to create 150,000 additional appointments this year.Ministers will be hoping this is achievable given they did not fulfil a previous promise to eradicate all waits over a year by September 2024.In January First Minister John Swinney pledged to bring down NHS waiting lists and make it easier to get GP appointments.He set out three priorities: to reduce immediate pressures in the NHS; shift the balance from acute services to the community and to use innovation to improve access to care, promising the health service would carry out an extra 150,000 appointments and procedures in the coming year.Then at the end of March, Health Secretary Neil Gray launched the Operational Improvement Plan, which he said would make the NHS “more accessible” and cut into backlogs for patients to be seen.This would involve an extra £200m in funding for weekend scan appointments and tests and an expansion of hospital care at home.The announcement came after the public spending watchdog, Audit Scotland, said NHS initiatives to improve productivity and patient outcomes have yet to have an impact.NHS Greater Glasgow and Clyde has been contacted for a response.The Scottish government said it had delivered around 3,300 additional gynaecology appointments and procedures in 2024-25 and that this year’s £21bn health and social care budget would include almost £200m to reduce waiting lists with gynaecology earmarked for extra funding.Women’s Health Minister Jenni Minto said: “Women’s health is key priority for the Scottish government, and we were the first country in the UK to publish a Women’s Health Plan, which aims to reduce inequalities in health outcomes for women, in August 2021.”Timely access to gynaecology services will be a priority in the next phase of our plan.”Excessively long waits are not acceptable, and I sympathise with any patient whose treatment has failed to reach the standards we all expect from our health system. “We are working intensively with NHS boards to reduce the length of time people are waiting for appointments and treatment.”

4 hours agoShareSaveJenny ReesHealth CorrespondentShareSaveBBCThousands of people with alcohol-related brain damage (ARBD) could be going undiagnosed, an expert says.Research suggests consuming 35 units of alcohol per week for five years or more can cause ARBD, which affects a person’s ability to carry out basic daily tasks.Lee Caldwell, 56, who was diagnosed with ARBD last year, said he struggled with short-term memory and impulse control.Prof Gareth Roderique Davies said stigma and lack of awareness led to ARBD being missed or misdiagnosed, and said adequate resources remained a challenge.The Welsh government said it was investing £67m to help people affected by drugs and alcohol, including ARBD.If left undiagnosed, patients with ARBD can end up requiring long term nursing care, but with the right intervention they can improve and live independently. Mr Caldwell was admitted to Brynawel House, a residential rehabilitation facility in south Wales, where he was diagnosed with ARBD last September.He said said at the peak of his drinking he found it “easier to cross the road to the garage” to buy alcohol than to confront the feelings of guilt and shame associated with his habit.Getty Images”The addiction became more important than living,” said Mr Caldwell, a former Royal Navy engineer and construction manager.Explaining the daily challenges ARBD could present, he said: “One day [in rehab] I couldn’t find my room.””I could see room seven, there’s eight – where’s nine?””This lad I got on with said: ‘It would help if you were in the right building – you live over there’.”Mr Caldwell said his longer term memory was unaffected but he struggled with “silly things” like whether he had taken his medication, as well as impulse control.How many units are in alcoholic drinks?Pint of lower strength lager, beer or cider – 2 unitsPint of higher strength lager, beer or cider – 3 unitsSmall glass of wine (125ml) – 1.5 unitsLarge glass of wine (250ml) – 3 unitsSingle shot of spirits (25m) – 1 unitSource: NHSMr Caldwell said since undergoing six months of rehabilitation, “I don’t wake up with cravings now and I am getting physically more and more fit”.”But I still worry about going out somewhere I’m not familiar with,” he added.”With ARBD, as you’re recovering, your memory comes back, which doesn’t happen to many people really.”Mr Caldwell had mixed feelings about leaving and returning to his home area of north Wales.”I knew I could do it – but I know I’m an addict, so I was always waiting for that demon.”Asked if he could see how far he had come, he said: “No. But I can see how far I’m going to go.””Post-pandemic we are seeing people with far more extensive brain problems because of their drinking,” said Sue Gwyn, chief executive of Brynawel House.The charity provides rehabilitation for substance misuse, but specialises in ARBD.She said patients were typically referred by local authorities and their cognitive function was then assessed.”Even as low as 35 units of alcohol a week for maybe four or five years can impact on your brain,” said Ms Gwyn.”Sometimes [patients] will have been working with community services for 18 months but ARBD hasn’t been picked up.”And that’s a worry because we know that up to 75% of people with ARBD, if they have rehab, they can make a very meaningful recovery.”If it’s not picked up the outcomes will be poorer for them, and in the most severe cases they’re going to end up in long term nursing care.”When you think that 36 units is around four bottles of wine, there are an awful lot of people who will be routinely drinking that as a minimum every week and thinking that’s OK because they haven’t got obvious liver problems.”But we are as worried about people’s brains as we are about anything else.””We see a massive change in people by the time they leave,” said occupational therapist at Brynawel House, Jan Bevan.”Life evolved around alcohol and when they could get their next drink. But they’re actually looking at a future and what’s meaningful, because they’d forgotten what meaningful is.”She said part of her work was to help patients to build routines, with prompts to aid memory.”My job is to ensure that when they go from here they have strategies and support to enable them to carry on.”As a charity and the only not-for-profit providing ARBD rehabilitation in Wales, Ms Gwyn said funding arrangements were not clear cut.While area planning boards have ringfenced funding for addiction support, she said few would fund ARBD rehabilitation.Support at Brynawel House, which includes a multi-disciplinary team and costs £1,760 a week, is provided for a minimum of six months.”If you look at the long-term impact of somebody having to go into residential care for maybe 10 or 20 years, then six months or a year spent in rehab here, I think it is money well invested,” she said.Prof Gareth Roderique Davies is co-lead of the addictions research group at the University of South Wales, where work is being done to better understand ARBD and its prevalence.He said as co-author of the Welsh government’s substance misuse treatment framework, published four years ago, he was frustrated with the lack of progress creating clinical pathways into treatment.”In many ways Wales is leading the way in terms of recognising ARBD as an issue, but there is the road block of putting the appropriate resources in place in order to deal with it,” he said.”We did some research a few years ago which suggested a prevalence of about 34 per 100,000 in south Wales, which is almost certainly a huge underestimation.”So just scaling up those figures, you’re talking about thousands of people in Wales with a potential diagnosis.”Prof Davies said stigma played a “big role” in people being correctly diagnosed.”Individuals who are drinking excessively may present as confused and chaotic and possibly even aggressive and that immediately means they’re treated in a stigmatised way,” he said.”Whereas in fact they’re exhibiting signs of alcohol related brain damage. But the pathways to recovery are really, really ill defined.”There is some evidence suggesting some individuals with ARBD are being misdiagnosed with early onset dementia. But memory clinics are not necessarily the right place for them because that’s dealing with a degenerative disorder – whereas if interventions take place at the right time, ARBD doesn’t have to get any worse.”In many circumstances it can improve with correct intervention.”The Welsh government said it was investing more than £67m “to help people affected by drugs and alcohol, including people with alcohol related brain damage, to ensure a range of services and support is in place”.A spokesperson added: “Clinical pathways are a matter for each area planning board area to determine and it is important they work closely with all appropriate organisations to ensure early identification of ARBD.”

16 minutes agoShareSaveAnna MeiselBBC File on 4 InvestigatesShareSaveBBCA secret recording, leaked to the BBC, reveals a senior police officer had serious concerns over the controversial arrest of a woman who took abortion pills when about 26 weeks pregnant – when she believed the pregnancy was only about six weeks along.Nicola Packer was arrested in hospital at the height of the Covid pandemic, a day after delivering a stillborn baby at home. The day after her arrest she was taken into custody in the back of a police van, still bleeding, having had major surgery.In April this year she went to court accused of having an illegal abortion. She was acquitted earlier this month.In the audio – from a 2020 meeting between Metropolitan Police officers and healthcare professionals – the Met’s child abuse investigation lead at the time can be heard saying: “It’s not a comfortable area for police to be operating in… any criminalisation around abortions.”He also questions whether the arrest was “the best for Nicola” under the circumstances.Despite the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) deciding not to prosecute initially, Ms Packer was charged in 2023 after police asked the CPS to review the case.A Met Police spokesperson said it was “not unusual and is standard practice” for detectives to request that the CPS reviews its decisions.The force does not comment on the content of internal meetings, it added, which are designed to allow for full and frank discussions so that issues can be explored thoroughly and decisions made in a considered manner.The Met Police acknowledged how “incredibly difficult” the case had been for Ms Packer, but said its officers had conducted an evidence-led investigation “impartially and without favour”.”The public rightly expects us to pursue the truth – even in sad and complex circumstances”, the spokesperson said.Ms Packer has told the BBC she is also angry at midwives “for calling the police when they really didn’t have to”.The online meeting took place for three hours, nearly a week after Nicola Packer’s arrest, and was attended by 20 professionals.The Met’s child abuse lead at the time was joined by the officer who made the arrest, child death and neonatal specialists, and a senior midwife at London’s Chelsea and Westminster Hospital – who first called the police.Such meetings are routine after the death of a child – aiming to establish what happened, learn lessons, and make sure mothers are provided with support.Ms Packer had taken abortion medication she had received through a pills-by-post system available during the pandemic. Based on her last period, it was estimated that she was about six weeks pregnant.When the pills took effect, she ended up delivering a stillborn baby at home – and then sought medical help in hospital.”I did say that I’d had a late miscarriage – because I was really scared to tell them I had taken abortion pills,” she tells File on 4 Investigates, in her first broadcast interview since her arrest.”I didn’t know if they were going to help me get the medical support I needed.”Nicola eventually told a senior midwife at the hospital that she had taken the abortion medication. The midwife then called the police.Getty Images”I went in in a very supportive manner,” the midwife can be heard saying in the leaked recording of the 2020 meeting.”I essentially said to her, ‘We’re here to care for you, and we need to know all the information… to support you in the right way.'”She goes on to explain to the group that Nicola had told her she was shocked when she had given birth to a stillborn baby.By then, the midwife says in the recording, Nicola was “looking like she wanted the conversation to end, and I didn’t want to interrogate her as such”. “I then advised her, because of the gestation assessment of the baby, that we would need to refer to the coroner for an investigation and also to inform the police.”The legal limit for abortion in the UK is 24 weeks of pregnancy. The stillborn baby was assessed to be about 26 weeks.If you have been affected by any of the issues raised in this article, help and support is available via BBC Action LineNicola had to have surgery after giving birth. Shortly after the operation, she was arrested and then taken into custody the next day. She was held for about 24 hours in a police cell.Ms Packer says the midwife should be investigated.”To me, she just went in there to try and gain my confidence, just so she could then use it against me.”There is no legal duty for medics to report suspected crimes and the midwife was in breach of patient confidentiality for reporting to the police, says Prof Emma Cave, an expert in healthcare regulation who has read a transcript of the recording.She says the midwife’s initial assurance to Ms Packer that her care was going to be the “first concern” seems “at odds” with then being told that police will be informed.”If people think that by attending hospital they’ll be reported to the police, they might avoid treatment and suffer serious health consequences,” says Prof Cave.In response to what happened to Ms Packer and other women, the Royal College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists released guidance to remind healthcare professionals that it is never in the public interest to report women to the police who might have terminated pregnancies illegally.It is and always has been doctors’ legal duty to respect patients’ confidentiality, said the college.Staff at the Chelsea and Westminster “acted in line with the processes and guidance available to them”, said a hospital spokesperson. “Their first priority, as in all cases, was to support and provide care to the patient.”Nicola’s case came to court last month – four and a half years after her arrest. She says she was “terrified” of going on trial, but also felt the process had gone on so long, that she just wanted it “over and done with”.”They [prosecutors] were trying to say that I knew how far along I was when I took the first abortion pill. I did not,” Nicola says.When the jury foreman said “not guilty”, Ms Packer says she “just burst into tears”.”But then you do sort of start to feel anger, the fact that it even got that far in the first place.”Prosecutors exercise “the greatest care when considering these complex and traumatic cases”, a CPS spokesperson said.”Our role was not to decide whether Nicola Packer’s actions were right or wrong; but to make a factual judgement about whether she knew she was beyond the legal limit when she accessed abortion medication.”Ms Packer believes those who were involved in her case now “need to be held accountable”. She plans to file a complaint with the Metropolitan Police, the CPS and the NHS over her treatment.”It’s really making me feel sick – the way everything was handled. I did not need to go straight from the hospital to the police station. I could have gone home and recuperated for a couple of days.””It just could have been handled much more compassionately,” says Ms Packer, “causing less trauma than they did.”

4 hours agoShareSaveFi Lamdin & Emma PetrieBBC NewsShareSaveCaters PhotographicA man with a rare form of blood cancer has travelled 10,000 miles to meet the stranger who saved his life.Luke Melling, 31, from Melbourne, Australia, says he was “staring death in the face” before receiving a stem-cell transplant from Alastair Hawken, of Grantham, Lincolnshire.The match between the pair was so perfect that the men now believe they could be distantly related, as both their families hail from Preston, Lancashire – the town they chose for their emotional first meeting.They are sharing their story to encourage more people to join the NHS Stem Cell Donor Registry.Three years ago, Luke, who was then 28, was desperately ill in hospital with Hodgkin lymphoma.He had been living with the condition since he was 16 and, despite being in remission four times, the cancer kept coming back.After exhausting all other treatments, he was told he needed a transplant of stem cells – which can be found in the bone marrow and produce essential blood cells – to survive. But no-one in his family, and no-one in Australia, was a match, so doctors started searching global stem-cell registries for a donor.”It was pretty much like, ‘This is it – this is the only option you have. It’s either this or you’re going to die’,” Luke says.Luke Melling”Finding out that my sister wasn’t a match was terrifying – we just didn’t know if there would be anybody registered who would be a suitable match for me.”But then, after a six-month wait, Luke was told there was hope. The register had discovered a potential donor on the other side of the world.”When we found out we had the perfect match, that was an emotional moment,” Luke recalls. “I remember mum – she was in hysterics, crying.”For Alastair, then 48, the phone call came out of the blue. A regular blood donor, he had signed up to the NHS registry in 2008.When he was asked if he was still willing to donate, the father-of-three did not hesitate.”It was no problem at all,” he says. “What can I do, where can I be? It was nice to be wanted, or to feel that I could be of use to someone.”Alastair HawkenBefore the donation, Alastair was injected with a high-strength cell-generating drug. After a couple of days he could barely move, but he was told that showed the process was working and the body was “over-generating stem cells”.He then went to a hospital for the stem cells to be “harvested” in a process similar to blood donation, while he was fed snacks and watched television.”There’s no discomfort,” he says. “The stem cells are taken out and packaged up, and then they’re counted in the laboratory – 85 million is what we needed for Luke, and that’s what was taken.”I felt amazing – my body was made up of fresh stem cells – and then my [harvested] stem cells went on their journey.”The cells were cryogenically frozen within hours to be sent to Australia, where Luke was waiting.Caters PhotographicLuke had his transplant a month later, but all he knew about the donor was that he was a 48-year-old man from the UK.He was not allowed to contact Alastair until two years had passed and the treatment was considered successful.At that point, Alastair did not know whether Luke had survived.”I just hoped. I hoped and prayed that he had,” he says.And then an email dropped into his inbox via the stem cell registry. “It was like all my Christmases had come at once,” Alastair recalls. “It was a really beautiful moment.”The men were put in contact with each other and finally met in Preston on Friday.Luke told Alastair: “To have someone like you, who is so beautiful, lovely and kind, having done all this, I’m glad it’s your cells. I just can’t thank you enough.”For his part, Alastair, who runs a gingerbread business, describes the donation as his “legacy”.He told Luke: “If I achieve nothing more than just seeing that smile on your face, then I’ve achieved everything I need to achieve.”Caters PhotographicPreston was a fitting place to meet as Alastair’s grandparents lived in the town and Luke’s family also have roots there.Luke, who is now 31 and back to full health, feels he can put the last 15 years behind him. He has even run a marathon.”Meeting Alastair in person is a dream come true,” he says. “What do you say to the person who has given you your life back by literally giving a part of themselves? “Me being able to get on that plane and fly across the world is possible only because of him.”The moment I got to give him that huge hug and thank him in person is a moment I’ll never forget.”Alastair, now 51, hopes their story will encourage others to sign up to the stem cell registry.”Meeting Luke today really brings home just what a difference that simple act can make,” he says.”I just wish more people would put themselves forward to be on the register to donate, whether it’s platelets or organs or blood or stem cells – that is just the gift of life.”There’s nothing that makes you feel more complete as a human being – and when it’s a success story, like it clearly has been in our case, it makes everything all worthwhile.”Additional reporting by Paul JohnsonThe NHS is encouraging more people aged 17-40, from all ethnic backgrounds, to join the NHS Stem Cell Donor Registry, to give more patients a better chance of finding the life-saving matches they need.Related storiesRelated internet links

Health Secretary Wes Streeting has urged doctors in England to “vote no” in a ballot on industrial action which gets under way on Tuesday.In a BBC interview, he urged resident doctors, the new name for junior doctors, to “work with the government” and warned strikes risked hampering the progress being made in the NHS.He said it was in no-one’s interests for strikes to take place.Last week it was announced resident doctors would be getting a 5.4% average pay rise this year – more than other doctors, nurses and teachers.But resident doctors, who took part in 11 strikes in 2023 and 2024, said it was not enough to make up for below-inflation pay awards since 2008.The union is urging members to vote for industrial action, with sources saying strikes would be the likely action taken.This year’s pay rise comes after resident doctors were awarded rises worth 22% over the previous two years.Streeting agreed to that deal shortly after coming into office, ending a dispute which had lasted more than a year.Taking account of this year’s pay rise, it means the starting salary for a doctor fresh out of university has risen by £9,500 over the past three years to around £38,800, the government said.But the British Medical Association (BMA) said even after the latest pay rise another 20% was needed to bring wages back to where they were in 2008.Resident doctors’ committee co-chairs Dr Melissa Ryan and Dr Ross Nieuwoudt said: “We are urging doctors to vote yes to strike action. “By voting yes they will be telling the government there is no alternative to fixing pay – this cannot wait for different fiscal circumstances and a healthier NHS. The answer is to fix it today.”The vote on industrial action runs until 7 July.Streeting said his door was always open but added there was no more money to increase salaries above the latest award.And he said a fresh bout of strikes would put attempts to rebuild the NHS at risk.Speaking to the BBC, Streeting said: ” I don’t think strikes are in their interests, in patients interests and I certainly don’t think it’s in the interest of the NHS overall.”Streeting has often cited the deal he reached last year to end the previous round of strikes as evidence of the government’s ability to reform the health service and cut waiting lists. Meanwhile, BMA sources said consultants were likely to start a dispute process over their 4% rise – the first step towards moving to an industrial action ballot.Other staff including nurses, midwives and physios have been given a 3.6% increase. The Royal College of Nursing said it was “grotesque” nurses were getting less than doctors for the second year in a row.The Scottish government has agreed a deal worth 8% over two years with health unions representing all staff apart from doctors and dentists. There have been no strikes by health workers in Scotland.

Specialist mental health crisis centres will be opened across England over the next decade in a bid to reduce crowding in accident and emergency departments (A&E), the NHS has confirmed.Ten hospital trusts have been piloting new assessment centres to deal with people experiencing a mental health crisis.The aim is to get these patients to appropriate care in a calm environment, avoiding long waits in A&E. NHS England said the new units would reduce overcrowding in hospitals and relieve pressure on emergency services, including the police.But Andy Bell, the CEO of the Centre for Mental Health, said any new provision needed to be properly funded.The scheme is expected to be expanded nationally to “dozens of locations”, the government said, as part of its ten-year NHS plan.These clinics will be open to walk-in patients as well as those referred by GPs and police, with specialist staff present to treat people in acute mental distress. Speaking to the Times newspaper, NHS England chief Sir Jim Mackey hailed the “pioneering new model of care”, where people can “get the right support in the right setting”. “As well as relieving pressure on our busy A&Es, mental health crisis assessment centres can speed up access to appropriate care, offering people the help they need much sooner so they can stay out of hospital.”Andy Bell told BBC Breakfast he was sceptical of the scheme because it was untested. He said it was impossible to separate out physical and mental health problems so simply, calling for separate facilities to be put in place “carefully”.”We need to robustly test the model at every stage before we even think about rolling it out nationally,” Mr Bell added.Calling for better funding of NHS mental health services, he noted the share of health spending on mental health treatment had gone down last year and was set to do so again. A recent study of emergency care in England found that the number of people waiting 12 hours or more in A&E after a decision to admit to a ward was the highest since modern records began. It topped 60,000 in January, or 11% of emergency admissions.The government also announced the expansion of a scheme last month to help GPs provide care and advice to patients, without them joining long NHS hospital waiting lists in England.