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"I can't wake Mummy up": Olympian dies at 43

<p>A former Olympic swimmer has passed away suddenly at the age of 43 while on a trip with her family. </p> <p>Helen Smart, a British swimming champion who competed at the 2000 Sydney Olympics, was found unresponsive by her four-year-old daughter Heidi when she tried to climb into bed with her parents. </p> <p>Heidi then woke up her father Craig Smart, saying, "Daddy, I can't wake Mummy up," before Craig discovered his wife lying next to him dead.</p> <p>Smart's mother confirmed the news of her passing, telling the <a href="https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-12413199/Ex-Olympic-swimmer-turned-headteacher-Helen-Smart-dead-four-year-old-daughter-heartbreaking-video-shows-mother-paddleboarding-hours-sudden-death-aged-42.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><em>MailOnline</em></a>, "Heidi had woken up in the night and tried to get into bed with her. She said to her daddy, 'Mummy won't wake up''. He said, 'Oh, she must be very tired Heidi - you go back to bed'."</p> <p>"He put the torch on and he said later that when he looked he could tell."</p> <p>Linda continued, "We're distraught. They don't know what it is but they think it must have happened shortly after she went to bed. She just died in her sleep."</p> <p>Just hours before her sudden passing, Helen and her family had been paddle boarding in the north of England, while on a trip for her brother Robert's 40th birthday. </p> <p>Helen had not been suffering with any illnesses her family knew of. </p> <p>Linda said, "At midnight, she went to bed telling me: 'I'll go to bed now mum as I know I'll be woken at 6am by Heidi. I just want to get some sleep in as I've had a long day.'"</p> <p>Linda was then woken by Robert at 4am who said, "Mum, dad, you need to keep up - we think Helen's died."</p> <p>Smart's father John said he and his wife "can't comprehend how she could simply go to sleep and not wake up."</p> <p>Helen became a school principal after her retirement from swimming and was enjoying her new life. </p> <p>Craig Smart took to her school's Facebook page to say his wife "loved the school, staff, children and parents so much."</p> <p>"She was so proud to reach her goal of being Head Teacher," he continued. "She used to say to me all the time she could never see herself at another school. She was Worsley Mesnes through and through! I remember only last week she said her goal was to get the school to outstanding and that she had the right staff to achieve this!"</p> <p>"I hope you all keep learning like champions. Please learn from this and live your best life, no regrets, take lots of photos, make memories and keep smiling just like Helen always did!" he added.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Twitter / Getty Images</em></p>

Caring

Mum who gave birth during coma finally wakes

<p>A woman from the US has woken up from a coma to discover her baby had been born. </p> <p>Jackie Miller James, a 35-year-old beauty and lifestyle influencer, was found found unresponsive by her husband in June, after she suffered a brain aneurysm while heavily pregnant. </p> <p>Jackie fell into a coma following the traumatic event, with her sister posting a fundraiser to help her family through the difficult time. </p> <p>“We are deeply saddened to share that our sister, Jacqueline (Jackie), was nine months pregnant and one week from her due date, when she suffered an aneurysm rupture, leading to severe brain bleeding and injury,” she wrote. </p> <p>“Jackie was found immediately by her husband, Austin, and was rushed to the emergency room and into an operation where they performed an emergency C-section and brain surgery simultaneously.”</p> <p>In a heart-warming update, Jackie's family has confirmed that she is awake and has has an emotional reunion with her baby girl.</p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CuNV3eDJP3-/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CuNV3eDJP3-/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Jackie Miller James (@jaxandrose)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p>The family shared that Jackie's recovery is exceeding expectations, with medical professionals pleased with her most recent tests. </p> <p>“The doctors have been pleased upon her latest tests, numbers and evaluations, noting that Jackie is performing above expectations at this stage of her recovery and is progressing more with every passing day,” the post read.</p> <p>“Jackie and Austin’s baby girl is a constant source of light for the entire family and continues to grow into a happy, healthy, and animated little angel."</p> <p>“Despite James’s delicate state of health, her daughter was delivered safely, spending 12 days in the NICU before going home.”</p> <p>Since Jackie's incident, a <a href="https://www.gofundme.com/f/support-jackies-long-road-to-recovery" target="_blank" rel="noopener">GoFundMe</a> campaign to support her and her family has amassed an incredible $500,000, as the funds will be allocated to cover the costs of Ms James’ speech therapy, physical therapy, necessary home modifications, and alternative therapies to address any lasting impairments she may face.</p> <p>Jackie's family thanked those who have donated for their support, writing, "The resources raised from the GoFundMe will allow us to continue to give Jackie the very best care and every chance at recovery. We are so appreciative of your donations, every little bit continues to help.”</p> <p><em>Image credits: GoFundMe</em></p>

Family & Pets

Pop star discovered tragically dead at 33 in the wake of scandal

<p>South Korean pop star Choi Sung-bong, who was caught running a notorious cancer scam has passed away at age 33.</p> <p><em>The Korean Times</em> reported that Choi was found by police at his Seoul home on the morning of June 20. He was pronounced dead soon after.</p> <p>Authorities have reportedly ruled the singer’s cause of death as a suicide.</p> <p>According to the Hollywood Reporter, after years of online fame stemming from a 2011 performance on Korea’s Got Talent, Choi confessed he had tricked his fans into donating money to him after claiming he needed funds for cancer treatment.</p> <p>Choi had claimed he had been battling multiple forms of cancer to obtain the donations, however, his claims were later exposed as a hoax.</p> <p>He also claimed he had returned all donated funds from a false fundraiser.</p> <p>Choi later issued a grovelling apology and vowed to return all of the donations sent by his fans.</p> <p>One day before his alleged suicide, Choi posted a note on his YouTube channel apologising for “foolish mistakes” in the past, according to The Mirror.</p> <p>The chilling letter said he needed to "repay for his sins with his life” and showed the address of where his body would be after taking his life.</p> <p>“My body can be found at [his home location]. I don’t know how to write a final message, so I will just write it in my own style. Even though my breath may have stopped now, I have no regrets about the brilliant journey of my life. I have lived my life to the fullest and made efforts to find happiness every day. Age thirty-four," (as per Korean age system), he said.</p> <p>Choi was best known for competing in Korea’s Got Talent in 2011, coming in at second place.</p> <p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vIy99OT2BAQ" target="_blank" rel="noopener"><iframe src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/vIy99OT2BAQ"></iframe></a></p> <p>A clip of him singing a cover of Nella Fantasia by Ennio Morricone quickly went viral online, thrusting him into the spotlight – <span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">with singing sensation Justin Bieber even acknowledging his talent.</span></p> <p><em>Image credit: YouTube</em></p>

Caring

Hotel guest wakes to find his toes in the manager’s mouth

<p>A Hilton guest in Nashville has experienced the stuff of nightmares during his overnight stay, having woken in the middle of the night to find the hotel’s manager sucking on his toes. </p> <p>The now-former employee allegedly crept into Peter Brennan’s room using a ‘ghost key card’, according to Brennan’s lawyer, and a warrant has been placed for the arrest of the 52-year-old culprit, David Neal. </p> <p>Brennan is also looking to sue the Hilton Hotel where the incident occurred, <em>WSMV</em> have reported. </p> <p>“I woke up at about 5am,” Brennan explained, “and I was being sexually assaulted by a man who had broken into my room.”</p> <p>Metro police reported that Neal was the night manager at the establishment, and attorney Michael Fisher has claimed that Neal had access to hotel keys despite a criminal past. </p> <p>As court documents note, Neal was previously indicted by the Wilson County Grand Jury in 1996 for second-degree murder in relation to his roommate’s death. In 1997, a jury had found him guilty of manslaughter, while Neal claimed self-defence.</p> <p>And as <em>WKRN</em> have reported, for his 2023 toe sucking offence, Neal allegedly told investigators that he had gone into Brennan’s room without permission using a duplicate key because he could smell smoke and had wanted to check in on its occupant. </p> <p>Brennan, upon waking to find Neal there, confronted his assaulter immediately. He also recognised him as someone who had entered his room the previous day, alongside another hotel employee, to check out a TV issue with the room.</p> <p>"[I] instantly jumped up and was screaming,” he told <em>News Channel 5</em>. “Went into sort of fact-finding mode. ‘Who are you? Why are you in my room? What are you doing here?’</p> <p>"I could see he was wearing a uniform, he had his name tag on. He was talking to me but not giving me any substantive answers."</p> <p>A spokesperson for the hotel directed the station to the hotel’s local manager for comment, though they refused to comment, telling them that “the safety and security of our guests and team members is our highest priority. We are working closely with the Metropolitan Nashville Police Department, and, as part of company policy, we do not comment on ongoing investigations."</p> <p>Which can’t have come as much comfort to Brennan, who was trying to come to terms with what he’d been through, and noted that he was “having problems sleeping frankly, I’m going through some PTSD, talking to a therapist.</p> <p>"I still don’t really feel safe in my own home."</p> <p><em>Images: Getty</em></p>

Travel Trouble

"It was a loud wake-up call": Aaron Sorkin's serious health scare

<p dir="ltr">Award-winning screenwriter and director Aaron Sorkin has revealed he suffered a stroke last November.</p> <p dir="ltr">In an interview with <em>The New York Times</em>, the 61-year-old, who holds three Golden Globes and five Emmys, said the experience was so intense it made him think he might never work again.</p> <p dir="ltr">"There was a minute when I was concerned that I was never going to be able to write again," Sorkin said.</p> <p dir="ltr">Sorkin revealed that the stroke occurred two months before rehearsals for his upcoming musical – a re-written version of <em>Camelot</em>.</p> <p dir="ltr">The <em>West Wing</em> creator said that the symptoms showed up in the middle of the night when he realised that he kept crashing into walls on his way to the kitchen.</p> <p dir="ltr">The symptoms carried on the next day, when he found himself continually spilling a glass of orange juice in his home office.</p> <p dir="ltr">When he went to the doctors they said his blood pressure was so high, he was "supposed to be dead".</p> <p dir="ltr">Sorkin also shared that he’s still suffering from the side effects as he hasn’t been able to taste food properly since the stroke.</p> <p dir="ltr">A month after the stroke, Sorkin struggled to type and was slurring his words, it’s only recently that he finally built up the coordination to be able to sign his name again.</p> <p dir="ltr">The director shared that the stroke has led him to make some major lifestyle changes.</p> <p dir="ltr">"Mostly it was a loud wake-up call," he said. "I thought I was one of those people who could eat whatever he wanted, smoke as much as he wanted, and it's not going to affect me. Boy, was I wrong," he said.</p> <p dir="ltr">Sorkin has since given up smoking, works out twice a day and has incorporated a healthier diet. "I take a lot of medicine. You can hear the pills rattling around in me," he added.</p> <p dir="ltr">The screenwriter is currently preparing for the opening of his new musical, <em>Camelot</em>, which is his fourth Broadway production.</p> <p><em>Image: Getty Images</em></p>

Caring

“A wake-up call for the cops”: Sydney protester Danny Lim released from hospital

<p dir="ltr">Well-known Sydney activist Danny Lim has been released from hospital after injuries to his head and face during an attempted arrest by police that sparked outcry.</p> <p dir="ltr">The 78-year-old, recognised by many for his sandwich board signs bearing political messages, was hospitalised after officers tried to arrest him for failing to “comply with a move-on order” at the Queen Victoria Building on Tuesday.</p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-def68152-7fff-863a-aabf-28d0df6634e4"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">Criminal lawyer Chris Murphy, a lawyer at the firm that represents Mr Lim, confirmed that he had been released from St Vincent’s Hospital on Thursday with “a plan in place for ongoing monitoring”.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">Danny Lim has been released from hospital with a plan in place for ongoing monitoring. Thank you staff at St Vincent’s Darlinghurst for the loving care.Thank you to the community for your love & support, hope to get our happy icon back with his smiles and his signs. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/beautiful?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#beautiful</a> <a href="https://t.co/k4ZclbOCyg">pic.twitter.com/k4ZclbOCyg</a></p> <p>— chris murphy (@chrismurphys) <a href="https://twitter.com/chrismurphys/status/1595493821323714560?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 23, 2022</a></p></blockquote> <p dir="ltr">“Thank you staff at St Vincent’s Darlinghurst for the loving care,” he wrote on social media.</p> <p dir="ltr">"Thank you to the community for your love and support, hope to get our happy icon back with his smiles and his signs."</p> <p dir="ltr">Mr Murphy also shared footage of the incident and updates on the activist’s health, with the <em><a href="https://www.sbs.com.au/news/article/sydney-man-danny-lim-arrest-to-undergo-independent-review-after-outrage/c4vq7yd9m" target="_blank" rel="noopener">SBS</a></em> reporting that Mr Lim was diagnosed with a subdural hematoma on Wednesday.</p> <p dir="ltr">"Internal skull damage diagnose(d)," Mr Murphy said on Twitter.</p> <p dir="ltr">Mr Lim was wearing a sign that read ‘Smile cvn’t! Why cvn’t?’ while walking through Sydney’s Queen Victoria Building on Tuesday when security told him to leave.</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-4377394a-7fff-c06d-c274-0f2f1157eb29"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">Police were called and confronted the protester, with footage taken by a witness showing Mr Lim being tripped and pushed down by two officers, falling head-first onto the tiled floor and being handcuffed.</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">BREAKING NEWS:VIDEO VIOLENT NSW POLICE ARREST OF INNOCENT 80 YEAR OLD MAN WEARING BILLBOARD A COURT HAS FOUND LEGAL THE LAST TIME HE WAS WRONGLY ARRESTED FOR IT. CVNT LIKE CENT AND CANT IS NOT AN OFFENSIVE TERM. LAST TIME COURT CRITICISED HEAVY HANDED VIOLENCE NOW IN HOSPITAL. <a href="https://t.co/Ovy942m4tx">pic.twitter.com/Ovy942m4tx</a></p> <p>— chris murphy (@chrismurphys) <a href="https://twitter.com/chrismurphys/status/1594898646981496832?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 22, 2022</a></p></blockquote> <p dir="ltr">When Mr Lim was picked up off the tiled floor, blood could be seen on the ground and on his cheek, and officers “discontinued” the arrest.</p> <p dir="ltr">Speaking to <em><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/nov/22/serial-protester-danny-lim-in-hospital-after-discontinued-arrest-in-sydney-cbd" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Guardian Australia</a></em> from hospital, Mr Lim said he had asked police to call an ambulance and informed them he had post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).</p> <p dir="ltr">“I told them to ring an ambulance,” he said on Tuesday. </p> <p dir="ltr">“They refused.</p> <p dir="ltr">“I could be dead when they threw me down like that.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Businessman Mike Ashley, a witness to the altercation, <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2022/nov/24/danny-lim-asked-police-to-call-ambulance-and-told-them-of-his-ptsd-before-arrest-witness-says" target="_blank" rel="noopener">told the outlet</a> that he noticed the hearted confrontation and heard Mr Lim repeatedly asked officers to call an ambulance.</p> <p dir="ltr">Mr Ashley said Lim had been begging for an ambulance to be called before he was thrown to the ground.</p> <p dir="ltr">“He let them know very clearly that he had PTSD, and that he needed an ambulance,” Mr Ashley said. </p> <p dir="ltr">“He voiced that very clearly at the outset. He became increasingly agitated as they approached him.”</p> <p dir="ltr">But, when Mr Ashley said he was threatened by officers when he tried to intervene and asked Mr Lim if he should call an ambulance.</p> <p dir="ltr">“The officer … said, ‘If you do that, we will charge you with hindering an arrest,’” he said. </p> <p dir="ltr">“It didn’t seem like the sort of thing that you might use to de-escalate [the] situation.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Following the incident, the actions officers took during the arrest will be subject to an independent review.</p> <p dir="ltr">In a statement, police said Mr Lim had failed to comply with move-on orders from security and officers.</p> <p dir="ltr">"Police will allege the man was subsequently issued with a move on direction by officers and failed to comply," they said.</p> <p dir="ltr">"The man's arrest was discontinued after he struggled with police and sustained an injury to his cheekbone ...</p> <p dir="ltr">"As inquiries into the incident continue, an independent review has been launched, which will examine the actions of police during the incident."</p> <p dir="ltr">His recent arrest has been condemned by many online and by politicians, including the NSW Greens.</p> <p dir="ltr">"The actions by the NSW Police yesterday were completely out of line and an indication of just how dangerous new police powers are to the vulnerable in our society," Greens MP Sue Higginson said on Wednesday.</p> <p dir="ltr">"This type of violent arrest can happen to anyone, anywhere."</p> <p dir="ltr">Independent member Alex Greenwich told <em><a href="https://www.crikey.com.au/2022/11/23/danny-lim-hospitalised-nsw-over-policing/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Crikey</a></em> the incident was “deeply concerning” and an example of “over-policing”.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Sydneysiders have a great deal of affection for Danny Lim and people know who he is and that he is a peaceful protester and a harmless person. It’s deeply concerning to see over-policing, let alone over-policing leading to someone being injured,” he said.</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-38bb2749-7fff-0c0c-cfc0-5ff7a3e3fe53"></span></p> <p dir="ltr">“I hope this is a wake-up call for the cops and I obviously hope that Danny has a full recovery.”</p> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet"> <p dir="ltr" lang="en">Today after being smashed into the floor by New South Wales Police. Internal skull damage diagnose. <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/DannyLim?src=hash&ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#DannyLim</a> <a href="https://t.co/Cc5IvO3nP9">pic.twitter.com/Cc5IvO3nP9</a></p> <p>— chris murphy (@chrismurphys) <a href="https://twitter.com/chrismurphys/status/1594913582063706112?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">November 22, 2022</a></p></blockquote> <p dir="ltr">Amnesty International Australia said they had documented incidents where police used force against people, like Mr Lim, who were expressing their right to freedom of expression and hoped NSW Police would follow through on holding an independent review.</p> <p dir="ltr">“People like 78-year-old Danny Lim should be free to express themselves without fearing injury,” the organisation said.</p> <p dir="ltr">Mr Lim has previously been arrested and fined $500 for wearing the same sign, but was deemed to be allowed to wear it after a successful court case in 2019.</p> <p dir="ltr">Magistrate Jaqueline Milledge ruled at the time in favour of Mr Lim, saying “the police action was heavy-handed and unnecessary” and ruling that the signs may be cheeky but weren’t criminally offensive.</p> <p dir="ltr"><span id="docs-internal-guid-5657dbd1-7fff-2b1e-ab73-e7279a271691"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Image: Twitter</em></p>

Legal

Why do I wake up thirsty?

<p>If you wake up in the morning feeling thirsty, you might be dehydrated.</p> <p>There are a few things which might be at play here, including not drinking enough the day before.</p> <p>The temperature overnight will also impact your hydration levels, with warm conditions meaning you will sweat overnight.</p> <p>However, even during cold weather, we still lose fluid from breathing, which you’ve probably noticed when your breath becomes visible in the cold.</p> <p>Often people avoid drinking fluids just before bed to avoid waking in the night to visit the toilet, which may further exacerbate dehydration.</p> <p>And one of the commonest causes for waking up thirsty is consuming too many diuretics, especially alcohol. Diuretics are things which cause you to lose fluid through urine, but beyond what you would normally lose from the volume you have consumed.</p> <p>So why is it so important to stay hydrated, and what can we do to ensure we are?</p> <h2>How do I know if I’m dehydrated?</h2> <p>Our brains release a hormone called “antidiuretic hormone” when it senses we are becoming dehydrated. It also releases this during the night to help us retain fluid since we can’t drink water while we sleep.</p> <p>This hormone does two things. It makes us feel thirsty, prompting us to go and drink water, and it tells our kidneys to absorb more water back into the body, rather than turning it into urine.</p> <p>This response occurs when we are dehydrated by 1-2% of our body weight. So if you weigh 70kg, and you have lost 1.4kg of weight over the day, it is a 2% loss of body fluids. (We know this amount of weight loss is fluids and not body weight, as it would almost be impossible for people to lose this amount of fat and/or muscle in a day).</p> <p>The colour of your first morning urine is a really good indicator of how hydrated you are. The darker the colour, the more dehydrated you are. You should be aiming for your first morning urine, as viewed in a white toilet bowl, to be the colour of hay.</p> <h2>Why is hydration important?</h2> <p>Staying hydrated is crucial for the <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19724292/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">optimal functioning of our body</a>.</p> <p>Dehydration, even at 2% of body weight, can impact <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/17921463/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">physical performance</a> – this includes things like fine motor skills, coordination, and strength and endurance when working and exercising. It also makes you feel like you are exerting yourself more than normal, which means you will tire more easily.</p> <p><a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4207053/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Cognitive performance</a> and ability are also affected at 1-2% dehydration. This includes the ability to concentrate, solve problems and make decisions.</p> <p>Dehydration also increases your risk of feeling more unwell with heat, and of course in heat you are more at risk of dehydration. Health is further impacted if dehydration goes beyond 2%. At about 10% dehydration (so losing 7kg of fluids in a 70kg person), delirium can set in, as well as renal failure and even death.</p> <p>Recommendations tell us we need to consume <a href="https://theconversation.com/do-i-have-to-drink-eight-glasses-of-water-per-day-we-asked-five-experts-93025" target="_blank" rel="noopener">around two litres of fluid</a> per day, much of which can come from the food we eat, and importantly fluid losses <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15673099/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">can be corrected within 24 hours</a>.</p> <h2>What are diuretics and why do they make us dehydrated?</h2> <p>Diuretics are a class of drugs that make the kidneys remove salt and water from the body through urine, usually to treat high blood pressure. But naturally occurring diuretics are also found in our diet.</p> <p>Alcoholic drinks above 4% alcohol concentration cause our body to turn more fluid into urine than the amount of fluid we’re actually drinking. Given most beers, wines and spirits are above this level, a night with friends having a couple of glasses of alcohol may cause dehydration.</p> <p>Coffee is also a diuretic as it contains two chemicals, caffeine and theophylline, which both increase blood flow to the kidneys – this makes them excrete more fluid. Intakes below 450mg of caffeine (about three to four coffees) are unlikely to impact hydration levels, and most people have a lot of milk and water with their coffee which would replenish most of the fluid lost.</p> <p>Other known diuretics include cranberry juice, ginger, fennel, apple cider vinegar and some teas including green, dandelion and nettle. There are <a href="https://link.springer.com/content/pdf/10.1007/s00345-002-0293-0.pdf" target="_blank" rel="noopener">many</a> herbs that are known to be diuretics. However, this does not mean they should be avoided as they offer many other important nutrients, and fluid recommendations account for diuretics in foods consumed in typical serve sizes.</p> <p>Eating foods high in salt does not lead to total water loss from your body, but it causes fluid loss from your cells. This is problematic for your body and the way cells are regulated. So it’s crucial to drink plenty of fluids when consuming a high-salt meal or diet.</p> <h2>How can I stay hydrated?</h2> <p>Activities that lead to increased sweating, such as training, playing sport or even gardening, can cause dehydration. So be sure to increase your fluid intake if you have been active, or if the weather is warm.</p> <p>All fluids contribute to your intake, but water is very effective.</p> <p>Recently a <a href="https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26702122/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">group of researchers</a> looked at the potential of different beverages to affect hydration status relative to water.</p> <p>Sparkling water, sports drinks, cola, diet cola, tea and coffee were equivalent to water. Milk (any fat percentage) from either dairy or soy, milk-based meal replacements, oral rehydration solutions and <a href="https://journals.humankinetics.com/view/journals/ijsnem/23/6/article-p593.xml?rskey=JTFcHB&result=603&utm_source=TrendMD&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=International_Journal_of_Sport_Nutrition_and_Exercise_Metabolism_TrendMD_0" target="_blank" rel="noopener">beer</a> under 4% alcohol were superior to water. And of course alcohol above 4% alcohol concentration was inferior to water.</p> <p><strong>This article originally appeared on <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-do-i-wake-up-thirsty-183731" target="_blank" rel="noopener">The Conversation</a>. </strong></p> <p><em>Image: Shutterstock</em></p>

Body

Woman wakes from coma to find she is now single

<p>An Australian woman has gone viral after revealing how her fiance left her for another woman while she was in a coma for three months.</p> <p>Brie Duval, 25, was living in Canada when her life took a horrific turn in 2020. She was out with friends when she fell off a 10m retaining wall, crashing headfirst onto the pavement.</p> <p>The 25-year-old was left with a brain injury and several broken bones and was flown to the University of Alberta Hospital where she was placed on life support in the ICU.</p> <p>Brie’s parents refused to turn off her life support and she miraculously began to show signs of improvement, waking up after three months. Additionally, Brie also suffered from post-traumatic amnesia, forgetting “simple things” like her passwords and address, she ended up remaining in hospital for an extra five months.</p> <p>Once she was able to remember day-to-day things, she was given back her phone and her first thought was to call her fiancé, as he hadn’t been with her in the hospital.</p> <p>That’s when she discovered her boyfriend of four years had moved in with another woman.</p> <p>In a TikTok that has been viewed two million times, Brie explained that when she went to call him for the first time after “finally” waking up from her coma, she found a text on her phone from another woman.</p> <blockquote class="tiktok-embed" style="max-width: 605px; min-width: 325px;" cite="https://www.tiktok.com/@hotcomagirl1/video/7103109625695784194" data-video-id="7103109625695784194"> <section><a title="@hotcomagirl1" href="https://www.tiktok.com/@hotcomagirl1" target="_blank" rel="noopener">@hotcomagirl1</a> Real coma experience vs. senior year coma experience! <a title="fyp" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/fyp" target="_blank" rel="noopener">#fyp</a> <a title="coma" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/coma" target="_blank" rel="noopener">#coma</a> <a title="braininjuryawareness" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/braininjuryawareness" target="_blank" rel="noopener">#braininjuryawareness</a> <a title="braininjurysurvivor" href="https://www.tiktok.com/tag/braininjurysurvivor" target="_blank" rel="noopener">#braininjurysurvivor</a> <a title="♬ original sound - HotComaGirl113" href="https://www.tiktok.com/music/original-sound-7103109615402912513" target="_blank" rel="noopener">♬ original sound - HotComaGirl113</a></section> </blockquote> <p>He also blocked her on all his social media accounts with the young woman claiming she hadn’t heard from her former fiance now in 11 months.</p> <p>“He doesn’t care that you nearly died with a 10% chance of living, but you know, at least he’s happy,” she continued.</p> <p>Brie’s video was immediately flooded with thousands of comments from other users also shocked by her fiance’s actions.</p> <p>Overwhelmed by all the support, Brie jumped into the comments section to thank viewers.</p> <p>“Thank you all for this support! I’ve had such a hard time and all of this love means the world,” she wrote.</p> <p>It prompted her to share several other videos, with one clarifying how exactly she fell.</p> <p>“So I did still plummet headfirst into concrete and go into a coma, I just wasn’t on a rooftop bar. I just said that because it was easier in the story to say rooftop bar.”</p> <p>If the news of her fiance wasn’t bad enough, given her freak accident happened at the height of the pandemic, her parents were unable to visit her in Canada, due to restrictions in Australia.</p> <p>“They told my mum that I had a 10 per cent chance of living and that she should get over to Canada as soon as she could because things weren’t looking good.”</p> <p>“My mum and dad went to the government and asked for special permission to say goodbye to me as things were bad at that point. They refused them, they would not give them a chance and they would not give them a reason, they just flat out said no.</p> <p>“So my mum told doctors in Canada to keep my life support on and do not under any circumstances turn that off, which they had to medically abide by.”</p> <p>Brie told the publication the incident made her realise she never wants to be apart from her family again and she has since moved back to Australia to be near them.</p> <p>The recovery process for Brie is ongoing as she continues to learn to live with a traumatic brain injury (TBI).</p> <p>“Getting back to normal life, just trying to establish what my new normal is – I couldn’t swallow when I first woke up. I’ve had to try and learn how to walk again – from my waist down to my toes, it feels like it’s gone dead,” she told the publication.</p> <p>She continues to share videos to raise awareness of what it’s like to live with a TBI.</p> <p><em>Image: TikTok</em></p>

Relationships

Wake up Jeff! Extended napping in seniors may signal dementia

<div class="copy"> <p>Daytime napping in older people is common and a normal part of aging, however, in excess it may also foreshadow <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/health/predictive-test-for-alzheimers-disease/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">Alzheimer’s disease</a> and other <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/health/dementias-rising-pressure/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">dementias</a>, according to a <a href="https://dx.doi.org/10.1002/alz.12636" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">new study</a>.</p> <p>Researchers found that excessive daytime napping predicts an increased future risk of Alzheimer’s dementia. And, once dementia or its usual precursor – mild cognitive impairment – are diagnosed, the frequency and/or duration of napping accelerates rapidly.</p> <p>The results were published in <em>Alzheimer’s & Dementia: The Journal of the Alzheimer’s Association</em>.</p> <p>“Daytime sleep behaviors of older adults are oftentimes ignored, and a consensus for daytime napping in clinical practice and health care is still lacking,” says co-first author Dr Peng Li, based at the Division of Sleep and Circadian Disorders at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Massachussets, US.</p> <p>“Our results not only suggest that excessive daytime napping may signal an elevated risk of Alzheimer’s dementia, but they also show that faster yearly increase in daytime napping may be a sign of deteriorating or unfavored clinical progression of the disease,” adds Li.</p> <p>The study tracked data from 1,401 seniors for up to 14 years. Those studied, approximately three-quarters of whom were female, had an average age of 81 years. They wore watch-like devices that tracked mobility continuously for up to 14 days every year. Each prolonged period without activity detected by the device between 9am and 7pm was interpreted as a nap.</p> <p>In addition, they underwent yearly neuropsychological tests to evaluate cognition. At the start of the study 75.7% of participants had no cognitive impairment, while 19.5% had mild impairment and 4.1% had Alzheimer’s disease.</p> <p>The researchers found that longer and more frequent daytime naps were a risk factor for developing dementia in cognitively normal older men and women. As the disease progressed, annual increases in the duration and frequency of napping accelerated – especially after the clinical manifestation of Alzheimer’s dementia.</p> <p>This occurred independent of known risk factors for dementia – including age and night-time sleep duration and fragmentation.</p> <p>“We found the association between excessive daytime napping and dementia remained after adjusting for night-time quantity and quality of sleep,” says co-senior author Dr Yue Leng of the University of California San Francisco. “This suggested that the role of daytime napping is important itself and is independent of night-time sleep.”</p> <p>This increase in napping may be explained by a <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/health/alzheimers-disease-destroys-neurons-that-keep-us-awake/" target="_blank" rel="noreferrer noopener">2019 study</a>, which compared the post-mortem brains of people with Alzheimer’s disease to those without cognitive impairment and found they had fewer wake-promoting neurons in three brain regions.</p> <p>The authors acknowledge the limitation that, because the study participants were older, the findings may not easily translate to younger cohort. They also suggest that future studies should test whether a direct intervention in daytime napping can lower the risk of Alzheimer’s dementia or cognitive decline.</p> <p>“I don’t think we have enough evidence to draw conclusions about a causal relationship, that it’s the napping itself that caused cognitive aging, but excessive daytime napping might be a signal of accelerated aging or cognitive aging process,” says Leng. “It would be very interesting for future studies to explore whether intervention of naps may help slow down age-related cognitive decline.”</p> <p>“Our hope is to draw more attention to daytime sleep patterns and the importance of patients noting if their sleep schedule is changing over time,” adds co-senior author Dr Kun Hu, also of Brigham and Women’s Hospital.</p> <p><em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></p> <p><em><img id="cosmos-post-tracker" style="opacity: 0; height: 1px!important; width: 1px!important; border: 0!important; position: absolute!important; z-index: -1!important;" src="https://syndication.cosmosmagazine.com/?id=185634&title=Wake+up+Jeff%21+Extended+napping+in+seniors+may+signal+dementia" width="1" height="1" data-spai-target="src" data-spai-orig="" data-spai-exclude="nocdn" /></em></div> <div id="contributors"> <p><em>This article was originally published on <a href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/health/body-and-mind/alzheimers-dementia-nap/" target="_blank" rel="noopener">cosmosmagazine.com</a> and was written by Imma Perfetto. </em></p> </div>

Mind

Why don’t snorers wake themselves up?

<div class="copy"> <p>Ask any snorer why their sonorous rumblings don’t wake them up and they will almost inevitably give the same, simple response: “Why ask me? I don’t snore!”</p> <p>A snorer’s blissful ignorance of their own snuffles gives the impression that they must sleep soundly through them, while the rest of the household listens on in frustration or horror.</p> <p>But just because they don’t remember waking up, doesn’t mean they sleep like a baby. To explain why, we need to look at why some of us snore in the first place. Let’s break it down.</p> <h2>Why do we only snore when we’re asleep?</h2> <p>Your mouth and throat are full of all sorts of delightfully soft, floppy bits, such as your uvula, tonsils, adenoids and other bits of tissue.</p> <p>When you’re awake, your body actively holds all these bits in their designated positions, ready for action. But when you fall asleep, your muscles relax and everything is free to loosen up.</p> <p>This relaxation is an important part of sleeping. As well as allowing our bodies to rest and recuperate, partial muscle paralysis prevents us from acting out our dreams while not fully conscious and walking. While a live action mime of our dreams could be an amusing insight to spectators, it could also be dangerous to us – and them.</p> <p>As well as keeping your limbs safely tucked in bed, sleep relaxation affects the muscles that hold everything in place.</p> <p>For some people (but certainly not any of us), this relaxation is enough for the soft tissues in our mouths to flop into undesirable positions and partially block the flow of air as they breathe.</p> <p>Snoring is the resulting sound of all the oral smooshy bits vibrating and slapping together as air forces its way through the obstruction when we breathe.</p> <h2>Human evolution has set us up to be snorers</h2> <p>Those mouth parts that cause all the trouble are actually the result of human evolution.</p> <p>If we were designing a perfect anti-snoring airway, it would be a long, straight tube with no soft parts at all. Unfortunately, a lot more is required of our airways than just unlaboured breathing. In order to vocalise beyond simple grunts, faces and throats have been reshaped to accommodate more sophisticated sound apparatus – most of which is soft tissue. Our tongues have migrated further back in our throats to shape different sounds. Compared to other mammals, our tongue rests precariously close to the back of our upper airway – the perfect place to become a blockage when we snooze.</p> <p>Our upright posture has also had an effect, shifting throats directly underneath skulls and leaving less room in which to fit all the additional squishy bits – prime conditions for the airway obstruction that leads to snoring.</p> <h2>Loud sounds can wake us when we’re fast asleep. Why not snores?</h2> <p>A loud crash from the kitchen in the middle of the night is almost certain to wake us up. Whether tree crash or a pet’s overly ambitious adventure, human bodies react to the sound by snapping speedily into a state of awareness.</p> <p>This is because our ears are still taking in sound while we’re asleep, and our brain is still processing – but its decision-making processes are very different to when we’re awake. Brains prioritise restfulness while we sleep, filtering out low-priority sounds and letting us snooze through unimportant background noise. Only high-priority signals trigger wakefulness: research has shown we’re more likely to respond to unusual sounds, especially loud sounds that could signal danger, and someone speaking our own names.</p> <p>For the offending snorer, the brain interprets soft snores as innocuous background noise that needs no further attention. But what about the ones that rattle the roof shingles?</p> <p>In fact, very loud snores actually <em>do</em> wake the snorer, but only briefly. We usually need to be in a very deep sleep state for our muscles to be relaxed enough for snoring to start, and at that point our brains are shutting out all but the most important information. Even if a snore is thunderous enough to make it through this filter, the snorer slips right back to sleep within a matter of seconds. Brainwave research suggests that we can have up to 25 of these “microarousals” per hour without even noticing.</p> <p>Unfortunately for everyone else in the household, you have to reach that deep sleep state <em>before</em> the snoring starts in order to be able to filter it out. So bad news for the ‘chainsnorers’ out there –your wake-ups might be impeding a sustained good night’s rest. For the rest of us, a couple of choices: learn to love the bear, or invest in a comfy pair of earplugs.</p> <p>Sleep tight!</p> <em>Image credits: Getty Images</em></div> <div id="contributors"> <p><em>This article was originally published on <a rel="noopener" href="https://cosmosmagazine.com/the-body/boring-in-on-snoring/" target="_blank">cosmosmagazine.com</a> and was written by Jamie Priest. </em></p> </div>

Body

“Slept through the whole pandemic”: Teen wakes from year-long coma

<p>Jokes were thrown around last year about "skipping 2020", but for one family it was an unfortunate reality.</p> <p>UK teen Joe Flavill was just 18 when he was hit by a car in Burton on March 1 last year, causing a traumatic brain injury.</p> <p>Until only a few weeks ago, he was in a coma - just a few short weeks before the UK entered its first COVID-19 lockdown.</p> <p>But even though he was completely unaware of the pandemic wreaking havoc around the world, Mr Flavill ended up contracting the virus while in hospital.</p> <p>Although he regained consciousness a few weeks ago and is gradually becoming more responsive, his aunt Sally Flavill-Smith said they weren't sure how much he understood of what had been happening in the world while he had been "away".</p> <p>"We also don't know how much he understands as his accident was before the first lockdown and it's almost like he has slept through the whole pandemic," she told<span> </span><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.staffordshire-live.co.uk/news/burton-news/teenager-coma-before-covid-pandemic-4915032" target="_blank">Staffordshire Live</a>.</p> <p>"It's hard as we know he is more alert, but how do you explain the pandemic to someone who has been in a coma?</p> <p>"A brain injury is very much the unknown, so we haven't been given an idea of what to expect really."</p> <p>Ms Flavill-Smith is helping raise money for Mr Flavill's recovery and to support his mother, Sharon.</p> <p>"He has been following commands, for example, touching his left and his right ear when asked to do so, he is able to move both of his legs, he is answering yes and no through blinking and the most amazing step is that he has shown us his incredible sense of humour," she wrote online last week.</p> <p>The family hopes that soon Mr Flavill will be able to undertake physiotherapy, which has been delayed due to the ongoing pandemic.</p> <p>He had been studying for his A-Levels (roughly equivalent to an ATAR) and was a passionate sportsman.</p> <p>He had been achieved a Gold Duke of Edinburgh Award, which he would have been due to receive at Buckingham Palace in May last year.</p>

Body

"I couldn't feel my bump anymore": Woman in COVID coma wakes to newborn twins

<p>A UK woman who was pregnant in a coronavirus coma woke up to a surprise as she had given birth.</p> <p>Perpetual Uke was six months pregnant when she fell ill with the virus in March, and feared she would be unable to safely deliver her children.</p> <p>She was put in an induced coma for almost a month.</p> <p>Doctors quickly decided that it would be safer to deliver her twins via a premature caesarean and brought the children into the world on April 10th, while Perpetual remained unconscious.</p> <p>When she woke from her coma 16 days later, she was convinced she had "lost" her pregnancy.</p> <p>"I was pregnant at 24 to 25 weeks, at that stage, and by the time I woke up, I was so disorientated," she told <a rel="noopener" href="https://news.sky.com/story/covid-hit-mother-wakes-up-from-coma-to-find-she-has-given-birth-to-twins-12135663" target="_blank" class="editor-rtflink">Sky News.</a></p> <p>"I thought I'd lost my pregnancy because I couldn't see my bump any more. I was really worried and disorientated."</p> <p>Her twins Sochika Palmer and Osinachi Pasal were cared for in the neonatal intensive care unit for 116 days.</p> <p><img style="width: 500px; height:281.25px;" src="https://oversixtydev.blob.core.windows.net/media/7838880/baby-twins.jpg" alt="" data-udi="umb://media/9883a890880c4dd58b39e8541d6a9b65" /></p> <div class="body_text redactor-styles redactor-in"> <p>Uke's husband Matthew told the <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-birmingham-54986070" target="_blank" class="editor-rtflink">BBC</a>, "Every passing day I was hoping my wife was not among those who are dead."</p> <p>"We are a team, the idea she might not be there was really difficult to accept."</p> <p>Perpetual was "very emotional" when she met her twins for the first time.</p> <p> "I was happy that we were all alive, but obviously concerned about their severe prematurity which has its own risks," she said to <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.expressandstar.com/news/health/coronavirus-covid19/2020/11/17/twins-delivered-by-caesarean-while-mother-in-covid-coma/" target="_blank" class="editor-rtflink"><em>The Express and Star</em></a>.</p> <p>After the coma, she was "so confused" that the children were hers.</p> <p>"When they showed me the pictures, they were so tiny, they didn't look like human beings, I couldn't believe they were mine," she said.</p> <p>The happy family are "getting better" each day after an intense almost three months in the ICU.</p> <p><em>Photo credits: <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-birmingham-54986070" target="_blank">BBC</a></em></p> </div>

Family & Pets

Woman's family betrayal after waking up from coma

<p>A woman in Brazil has been left devastated after fighting her way through a coma only to discover her husband was cheating on her with her own mother.</p> <p>Kamylla Wanessa Cordeiro de Melo, 25, claims she met the man of her dreams, who was 10 years older than her and they "fell in love".</p> <p>They married in 2013 and she gave birth to a son after a "complicated pregnancy".</p> <p>Things fell apart later as she suffered a stroke four years later after bariatric surgery.</p> <p>“At the end of 2017, I needed to have bariatric surgery,” Kamylla told Brazilian news outlet <em>No Amazonas é assim</em>.</p> <p>“The idea was not to lose weight but to take care of my hormonal rates. After operating, I had a stroke and needed to be hospitalised again.”</p> <p>After the surgery, she fell into a coma for 78 days.</p> <p>Instead of her family rallying around her, Kamylla claims that her mother stole her husband and then married him.</p> <p>“During this period, my mother – I swear I can’t call her a mother anymore – went to my house to help my husband take care of my son who at the time, was four years old,” Kamylla told <em>Marie Claire</em>, according to <em>The Sun.</em></p> <p>“Only later did I learn that in the four months I spent in the hospital, much of the time between life and death, my ex had only visited me twice and my mother, none.”</p> <p>After she woke, Kamylla's father picked her up from the hospital and said his wife was having an affair with her husband.</p> <p>“It looked like he was being stabbed in the chest, a mixture of disappointment and disbelief,” Kamylla said of her father when he told her what happened.</p> <p>She claimed that the relationship with her mother had always been "rocky", claiming that her mother started "competing" with her when she was a teenager.</p> <p>“As a teenager, around 13, 14 years old, my mother started to compete with me,” she said.</p> <p>“(She) said that my clothes were better suited to her, that her food was better … Nothing I did was good enough.”</p> <p>To add insult to injury, her mum and ex-husband don't even try to hide their relationship and proudly flaunt it.</p> <p>“I recently learned that my mother is keen to celebrate their relationship anniversary on March 2, without even disguising that she started going out with my then-husband while I was in the hospital,” Kamylla said.</p> <p>However, the mother and son have been able to move on and live happy lives despite the "toxic" situation.</p> <p><em>Photo credits: <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/man-cheats-on-wife-with-her-mum-while-she-was-in-a-coma/news-story/d609f0e9be6bf082cba32eabb9191001" target="_blank">news.com.au</a></em></p>

Relationships

Nurse saves three newborn babies in wake of Beirut explosion

<p>Photojournalist Bilal Jawich was on the outskirts of Beirut when the explosion hit, leaving at least 135 dead and thousands injured. Jawich says he followed the smoke until he reached the port of the Lebanese capital. <br /><br />He went on to explain that “professional intuition” took him to Al Roum hospital, in the Ashrafieh district.<br /><br />The area has been left devastated by the blast but Jawich says there was a remarkable sight amidst the rubble. <br /><br />“I was amazed when I saw the nurse holding three newborns,” Jawich said.<br /><br />“I noticed the nurse’s calm, which contrasted the surrounding atmosphere just one metre away.”<br /><br />Several dead and injured people lay just nearby, he said.<br /><br />“However, the nurse looked like she possessed a hidden force that gave her self-control and the ability to save those children,” he said.<br /><br />“People stand out amidst these violent and dark and evil circumstances and this nurse was up to the task.”<br /><br />Jawich said the nurse told him later that evening that she was in the maternity ward when the blast hit.<br /><br />She said she had been knocked unconscious, and when she woke up she “found herself carrying these three children,” he said.<br /><br />Unfortunately, others in the hospital were not so lucky, as 12 patients, two visitors and four nurses died in the explosion. <br /><br />George Saad, emergency preparedness and disaster manager for the hospital, says two remain in critical condition.<br /><br />At least 80 per cent of the hospital has been damaged, along with 50 per cent of its equipment, he said.<br /><br />Saad told CNN that the babies and their mothers have been transferred to other hospitals.</p>

Family & Pets

"Just sour grapes": Ellen's ratings in the wake of allegations

<p>Ellen DeGeneres is known to end every episode of her insanely popular talk show with, “Be kind to one another,” but after a number of allegations have come to light in recent weeks of her diva-like behaviour with staff members and other people, viewers are starting to lose faith.</p> <p>The backlash began in April when a number of people including popular beauty YouTuber Nikkie de Jager accused DeGeneres of being “cold and distant”. Slowly other people started to come forward with their own stories about the 62-year-old, saying she’s rude and entitled.</p> <p>Then, the comedian brought criticism upon herself after she said living in her $27 million mansion was “like being in jail”.</p> <p>“Ellen is at the end of her rope,” revealed a source to<span> </span><em>Us Weekly</em>. “She thought this was all just sour grapes from a few haters. But it’s not a passing thing – the hits just keep coming.”</p> <p>But throughout all the drama, the Emmy award winner has turned to her wife, Portia de Rossi for support.</p> <p>“Ellen’s so grateful to have Portia in her life as a soulmate and a sounding board, but that doesn’t mean it’s been easy,” a second source told<span> </span><em>Us</em>. “Their home life is strained right now … her real friends never ask her to be funny or tell jokes. They accept her as is.”</p> <p>And despite all the commotion, Ellen’s ratings continue to climb, which proves the backlash has not affected her show.</p> <p>“Ellen’s been in our homes for so long, it’ll take a lot more than a bodyguard and a blogger to change how people feel about her,” the second insider notes. “Her best response is just being happy Ellen on the show every day.”</p>

Beauty & Style

Coronavirus is a wake-up call: our war with the environment is leading to pandemics

<p>The COVID-19 pandemic sweeping across the world is a crisis of our own making.</p> <p>That’s the message from infectious disease and environmental health experts, and from those in <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(15)60901-1/fulltext">planetary health</a> – an emerging field connecting human health, civilisation and the natural systems on which they depend.</p> <p>They might sound unrelated, but the COVID-19 crisis and the climate and biodiversity crises are deeply connected.</p> <p>Each arises from our seeming unwillingness to respect the interdependence between ourselves, other animal species and the natural world more generally.</p> <p>To put this into perspective, the <a href="https://www.cdc.gov/onehealth/basics/zoonotic-diseases.html">vast majority</a> (three out of every four) of new infectious diseases in people come from animals – from wildlife and from the livestock we keep in ever-larger numbers.</p> <p>To understand and effectively respond to COVID-19, and other novel infectious diseases we’ll likely encounter in the future, policymakers need to acknowledge and respond with “planetary consciousness”. This means taking a holistic view of public health that includes the health of the natural environment.</p> <p><strong>Risking animal-borne diseases</strong></p> <p>Biodiversity (all biological diversity from genes, to species, to ecosystems) <a href="https://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/blog/2019/05/nature-decline-unprecedented-report/">is declining faster</a> than at any time in human history.</p> <p>We clear forests and remove habitat, bringing wild animals closer to human settlements. And we hunt and sell wildlife, often endangered, increasing the risk of disease transmission from animals to humans.</p> <p>The list of diseases that have jumped from animals to humans (“zoonotic diseases”) includes HIV, Ebola, Zika, Hendra, SARS, MERS and bird flu.</p> <p>Like its precursor SARS, COVID-19 is thought to have <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/s41586-020-2169-0">originated in bats</a> and subsequently transmitted to humans via another animal host, possibly at a wet market trading live animals.</p> <p>Ebola virus emerged in central Africa when land use changes and altered climatic conditions forced bats and chimpanzees together around <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Robert_Mahoney2/publication/245669692_Climatic_and_ecological_context_of_the_1994-1996_Ebola_outbreaks/links/545b0bd00cf2c46f66439322.pdf">concentrated areas of food resources</a>. And Hendra virus is associated with urbanisation of fruit bats following habitat loss. Such changes are occurring worldwide.</p> <p>What’s more, human-caused climate change is making this worse. Along with habitat loss, shifting climate zones are causing wildlife to migrate to new places, where they interact with other species they haven’t previously encountered. This increases the risk of new diseases emerging.</p> <p>COVID-19 is just the latest new infectious disease arising from our collision with nature.</p> <p>Due to its ability to spread at an alarming pace, as well as its relatively high mortality rate, it’s the sort of pandemic experts have been <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/27/opinion/coronavirus-pandemics.html">warning will arise</a> from environmental degradation.</p> <p>We saw this in 2018, for instance, when disease ecologist Dr Peter Daszak, a contributor to the <a href="http://origin.who.int/blueprint/priority-diseases/en/">World Health Organisation Register of Priority Diseases</a>, coined the term “Disease X”. This described a then-unknown pathogen predicted to originate in animals and cause a “serious international epidemic”. COVID-19, <a href="https://slate.com/technology/2020/03/coronavirus-covid19-pandemic-cause-prediction-prevention.html">says Daszak</a>, is Disease X.</p> <p><strong>Climate change makes us vulnerable</strong></p> <p>But <a href="https://www.thelancet.com/climate-and-health">climate change is undermining human health globally</a> in other profound ways. It’s a risk multiplier, exacerbating our vulnerability to a range of health threats.</p> <p>Earlier this year, all eyes were on the extensive, life-threatening bushfires and the resulting blanket of <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/australia-news/2020/jan/23/bushfire-crisis-more-than-half-of-all-australians-found-to-have-been-directly-affected">smoke pollution</a>. This exposed more than half of the Australian population to health harm for many weeks, and led to the deaths of more than <a href="https://newsroom.unsw.edu.au/news/health/bushfire-smoke-pollution-responsible-over-400-excess-deaths">400 people</a>.</p> <p>For infectious diseases such as COVID-19, air pollution creates another risk. This new virus causes a respiratory illness and, <a href="https://ehjournal.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1476-069X-2-15">as with SARS</a>, exposure to air pollution worsens our vulnerability.</p> <p>Particles of air pollution also <a href="https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC2944079/">act as transport for pathogens</a>, contributing to the spread of viruses and infectious disease across large distances.</p> <p><strong>A wake-up call</strong></p> <p>It might be clear to readers here that human health depends on healthy ecosystems. But this is rarely considered in policy decisions on projects that affect natural ecosystems – such as land clearing, major energy or transport infrastructure projects and industrial-scale farming.</p> <p>The current COVID-19 pandemic is yet another warning shot of the consequences of ignoring these connections.</p> <p>If we are to constrain the emergence of new infections and future pandemics, we simply <a href="https://www.cbd.int/health/stateofknowledge/">must cease</a> our exploitation and degradation of the natural world, and urgently cut our carbon emissions.</p> <p>Controlling the pandemic appropriately focuses on mobilising human and financial resources to provide health care for patients and prevent human to human transmission.</p> <p>But it’s important we also invest in tackling the <a href="https://www.pnas.org/content/117/8/3888">underlying causes of the problem</a> through biodiversity conservation and stabilising the climate. This will help avoid the transmission of diseases from animals to humans in the first place.</p> <p>The health, social and economic consequences of COVID-19 should act as a wake-up call for all governments to take stock, carefully consider the evidence, and ensure post COVID-19 responses reverse our war on nature. Because – as pioneering 20th century conservationist <a href="https://www.rachelcarson.org/SilentSpring.aspx">Rachel Carson argued</a> – a war on nature is ultimately a war against ourselves.</p> <p><em>Written by Fiona Armstrong, Anthony Capon and Ro McFarlane. Republished with permission of </em><a href="https://theconversation.com/coronavirus-is-a-wake-up-call-our-war-with-the-environment-is-leading-to-pandemics-135023"><em>The Conversation.</em></a></p>

Caring

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle share emotional message in wake of coronavirus

<p>Prince Harry and Meghan Markle have issued an emotional statement during the coronavirus outbreak to call for “empathy” and “kindness”.</p> <p>The couple took to Instagram in light of the pandemic causing panic across the globe, saying these “uncertain times” means people need each other “more than ever”.</p> <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/B9tY59rHH4k/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B9tY59rHH4k/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by Meghan (fan page) (@_duchess_of_sussex)</a> on Mar 14, 2020 at 2:34am PDT</p> </div> </blockquote> <p>We need each other for truth, for support, and to feel less alone during a time that can honestly feel quite scary,” the couple wrote.</p> <p>“There are so many around the world who need support right now, who are working tirelessly to respond to this crisis behind the scenes, on the frontline, or at home,” they continued. “Our willingness, as a people, to step up in the face of what we are all experiencing with COVID-19 is awe-inspiring.</p> <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/B931VgInJPI/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B931VgInJPI/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by Meghan (fan page) (@_duchess_of_sussex)</a> on Mar 18, 2020 at 3:55am PDT</p> </div> </blockquote> <p>“This moment is as true a testament there is to the human spirit. We often speak of compassion. All of our lives are in some way affected by this, uniting each of us globally.”</p> <p>The 35-year-old and his wife, 38,<span> </span><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://o60.me/IKf11h" target="_blank">who are currently bunkering down in their Vancouver home</a><span> </span>went on to say: “How we approach each other and our communities with empathy and kindness is indisputably important right now.”</p> <p>The couple told their followers to continue doing their part by sharing accurate news and information to the public about safe and healthy practices.</p> <p>“We will be sharing information and resources to help all of us navigate the uncertainty: from posting accurate information and facts from trusted experts, to learning about measures we can take to keep ourselves and our families healthy, to working with organisations that can support our mental and emotional well-being,” they went on to say.</p> <p>“In addition, we will focus on the inspiring stories of how so many of you around the world are connecting in ways big and small to lift all of us up.”</p> <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/B9luym7nBt1/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B9luym7nBt1/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by Meghan (fan page) (@_duchess_of_sussex)</a> on Mar 11, 2020 at 3:12am PDT</p> </div> </blockquote> <p>The Duke and Duchess of Sussex wrapped up their farewell tour in the UK last week, where afterwards they rushed back to Canada to be with their son Archie, who turns one in May.</p>

Caring

Royal lockdown: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle bunker down in wake of coronavirus

<div class="post_body_wrapper"> <div class="post_body"> <div class="body_text "> <p>The Duke and Duchess of Sussex are currently bunkered down in their $23 million Canadian home as Prime Minister Justin Trudeau announces the country’s border has closed in the wake of the coronavirus<br /><br /><em>The New York Post</em> initially reported that the couple had flown back to their new home following their farewell tour in the UK.<br /><br />It is believed Meghan returned to Canada last Monday, a mere few hours after attending the Commonwealth Service alongside the Queen and other senior royal family members.<br /><br />Prince Harry remained behind in the UK to attend meetings at Buckingham Palace, before he returned to his new wife and son Archie at the end of last week.<br /><br />Mr Trudeau spoke to cameras while outside his residence, where he is in self-isolation, as his wife just recently tested positive for coronavirus.<br /><br />It was announced on Monday that Canada is to close its borders to any person who is not a citizen or permanent resident.<br /><br />The new measure comes as a move to mitigate the spread of COVID-19 in Canada, and Mr Trudeau also said airlines must turn travellers with coronavirus symptoms away from boarding flights.<br /><br />From Wednesday, just four Canadian airports – in Montreal, Toronto, Calgary, and Vancouver – will be accepting international flights.<br /><br />“As the virus continues its spread, we’ve decided to take increasingly aggressive steps to keep you and your families safe,” Mr Trudeau said.<br /><br />Canada had at least 598 confirmed cases of COVID-19 across all 10 provinces as of Wednesday.</p> </div> </div> </div> <div class="post-action-bar-component-wrapper"> <div class="post-actions-component"> <div class="upper-row"><span class="like-bar-component"></span> <div class="watched-bookmark-container"></div> </div> </div> </div>

Travel Trouble

"Raw with grief": White Island volcano victim finally wakes from coma to find husband and stepdaughter died

<p>Adelaide mother and engineer Lisa Dallow woke from a coma and received the heartbreaking news that her daughter and husband passed away in the White Island volcano tragedy.</p> <p>Lisa, 48, told relatives how she and other tourists fled for their lives as rocks rained down on them during the eruption on December 9.</p> <p>She woke in Melbourne’s The Alfred Hospital burns unit and was given the news that her daughter Zoe, 15, and Gavin, 53 had passed.</p> <p>Relatives told<span> </span><em><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/sa-woman-lisa-dallow-wakes-from-coma-to-hear-her-husband-gavin-and-daughter-zoe-died-in-the-white-island-volcano-tragedy/news-story/81e97399ddf87c0b4006d2a51933bcb9" target="_blank">The Advertiser</a></em><span> </span>that she was devastated.</p> <p>“Lisa is awake and has been told about Zoe and Gavin, so she now knows what has happened,” a family spokeswoman said.</p> <p>“It took a while for it to sink in and then she just kept saying she can’t believe they had died.”</p> <p>The family spokesman also said that Lisa had some memories of the volcano erupting.</p> <p>“She remembers it exploding and then telling everyone to run,” she said. “She then recalled how rocks were falling everywhere and hitting her on the back.</p> <p>“She remembers thinking: ‘When are they going to come and rescue us?’ The next thing she knows is she is in hospital wondering where she was.”</p> <p>After Lisa missed Gavin’s funeral at Adelaide Oval last month, her family has delayed Zoe’s memorial in the hopes that Lisa can attend as she undergoes intensive rehab.</p> <p>“She wasn’t able to go to Gavin’s funeral, but we are hoping she could make Zoe’s, so they have delayed it until she is a bit better,” the spokesperson explained.</p> <p>“It will be Lisa’s decision, so we all just have to wait and see. It is so devastating for everyone. We are still raw with grief.”</p> <p>Lisa was critically injured after suffering life-threatening burns to almost 60 percent of her body and is currently receiving high-level care from Australia’s top trauma doctors.</p> <p>“It really is a slow road to recovery, Lisa has been up and down,” the spokesman said.</p> <p><em>Photo credits:<span> </span><a rel="noopener noreferrer" href="https://www.adelaidenow.com.au/news/south-australia/sa-woman-lisa-dallow-wakes-from-coma-to-hear-her-husband-gavin-and-daughter-zoe-died-in-the-white-island-volcano-tragedy/news-story/81e97399ddf87c0b4006d2a51933bcb9" target="_blank">Adelaide Now</a><span> </span> <span> </span></em></p>

Cruising

Turia Pitt inspires emotional movement in wake of new bushfire crisis

<p><span>Turia Pitt has penned an inspiring and heartbreaking post on social media which has resulted in an incredible movement in the wake of the bushfire crisis.</span></p> <p><span>The athlete and motivational speaker took to Instagram on Monday to speak about her own distress and desperation due to the harrowing bushfires that has plagued Australia.</span></p> <p><span>Turia’s own home in the New South Wales south coast region is located in a spot heavily impacted by the fires. The effect on Pitt and her husband Michael Hoskin and their two-year-old son Hakavai has been devastating.</span></p> <p><span>The 32-year-old wrote: "I watched, my mouth agape, as two angry plumes from the fires north and south of us joined together over Mollymook Beach. And then, the power went out."</span></p> <p><span>She further explained the grave concern she felt as she witnessed the toll of the bushfire and detailing the experience of seeing and feeling her home become “an apocalyptic quiet”. detailed the "It's been a tough few weeks for me emotionally. I've had to focus on not letting my emotions and own experiences get the better of me."</span></p> <p><span>"I'm exhausted. I feel like I've done 10 marathons. And we can't relax because it's only the start of summer, and it's not over yet. So just like in a marathon, I've realised I have to pace myself."</span></p> <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/B69tZHSA2Ek/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B69tZHSA2Ek/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by Turia (@turiapitt)</a> on Jan 5, 2020 at 8:07pm PST</p> </div> </blockquote> <p><span>Turia alluded to her own terrifying experience in in 2011, where she was trapped in a Western Australia bushfire while running an ultra marathon -she endured burns to 65 per cent of her body as a result.</span></p> <p><span>"I've had recurring nightmares about running through flames with my son in my arms," she added of the current situation.</span></p> <p><span>"It's been difficult to sleep, eat or think and all I've really wanted to do is tap out, put my head in the sand and pretend that nothing is going on."</span></p> <p><span>Her words seemed to have an impact though, and Turia has decided to take matters into her own hands to begin an inspiring movement. .</span><br /><span></span></p> <p><span>"Once these fires are finally 'over', it won't be over for many of the local businesses in fire-ravaged towns," she explained.</span></p> <p><span>"A lot of these places (like my home in Mollymook, and Mallacoota, Kangaroo Island, Eden etc) rely on the tourist dollar for their very survival."</span></p> <p><span>Pitt mentioned the hashtag: #GoWithEmptyEskies movement, kickstarted by Tegan Webber who is encouraging people to travel to fire ravaged towns to buy their products in bulk, as well as the Buy From the Bush campaign which has encouraged people to buy from drought-affected farmers since October.</span></p> <p><span>Turia said: "So this is what I'm doing. I've created @spendwiththem, a place to feature businesses in fire-affected towns. So, if you want to buy something (now, or in the future), check out @spendwiththem and buy something from one of these places.</span></p> <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/B69jz3VgHPb/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B69jz3VgHPb/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">A post shared by Turia (@turiapitt)</a> on Jan 5, 2020 at 6:43pm PST</p> </div> </blockquote> <p><span>"This is a way to put money directly in the pockets of the people and communities who need it the most, and need it NOW."</span></p> <p><span>"Help them rebuild. Make them feel heard. Spend with them."</span></p> <p><span>She also sent an invitation to businesses who have been affected to contact her to be featured - telling them to visit the page, Spend With Them.</span></p> <p><span>Using her influence for good, it seems the country has reacted with elation over Turia’s emotional post.</span></p> <blockquote style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" class="instagram-media" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/B6_rAkQADWm/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="12"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"></div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"></div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"></div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"></div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"></div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <p style="margin: 8px 0 0 0; padding: 0 4px;"><a style="color: #000; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none; word-wrap: break-word;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/B6_rAkQADWm/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank">Hey guys! Grace and I are completely amazed by all of you! Thank you for supporting the businesses we’ve featured on @spendwiththem so far! We’ve been totally overwhelmed by your thousands of messages of support. So, if you’ve sent us a DM requesting we feature your business and we haven’t yet responded, please email us at spendwiththem@turiapitt.com with product pics and instructions on what people can buy online or over the phone. We’re struggling to keep track of DMs right now, so email will be best! Please know that as much as we want to support all businesses in fire-affected towns, we can’t yet encourage visitation to these areas. So, online and phone ordering options are all we can promote for now. When it is safe to do so, we’ll absolutely find a way to encourage road trips to your towns! Big love to you all - you absolute legends! ❤️❤️❤️</a></p> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;">A post shared by <a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px;" rel="noopener" href="https://www.instagram.com/turiapitt/?utm_source=ig_embed&utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank"> Turia</a> (@turiapitt) on Jan 6, 2020 at 2:25pm PST</p> </div> </blockquote> <p><span>Her new Instagram page has since shot up in the ranks and received 108,000 followers.</span></p> <div class="c-message__content c-message__content--feature_sonic_inputs" data-qa="message_content"> <div class="c-message__message_blocks c-message__message_blocks--rich_text"> <div class="p-block_kit_renderer p-block_kit_renderer--absorb_margin" data-qa="block-kit-renderer"> <div class="p-block_kit_renderer__block_wrapper p-block_kit_renderer__block_wrapper--first"> <div class="p-rich_text_block"> <div class="p-rich_text_section"><em>OverSixty, its parent company and its owners are donating a total of $200,000 to the Vinnie’s Bushfire Appeal. We have also pledged an additional $100,000 of product to help all those affected by the bushfire crisis. We would love you to support too! Head to the <a rel="noopener" href="https://donate.vinnies.org.au/appeals-nsw/vinnies-nsw-bushfire-appeal-nsw" target="_blank">Vinnie's website to donate!</a></em></div> </div> </div> </div> </div> </div> <div class="c-message_actions__container c-message__actions" aria-label="Message actions"></div>

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News

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Catalogues

Travel

Health

Lifestyle

Finance

Entertainment

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Keep up to date

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"I can't wake Mummy up": Olympian dies at 43

Mum who gave birth during coma finally wakes

Pop star discovered tragically dead at 33 in the wake of scandal

Hotel guest wakes to find his toes in the manager’s mouth

"It was a loud wake-up call": Aaron Sorkin's serious health scare

“A wake-up call for the cops”: Sydney protester Danny Lim released from hospital

Why do I wake up thirsty?

Woman wakes from coma to find she is now single

Wake up Jeff! Extended napping in seniors may signal dementia

Why don’t snorers wake themselves up?

“Slept through the whole pandemic”: Teen wakes from year-long coma

"I couldn't feel my bump anymore": Woman in COVID coma wakes to newborn twins

Woman's family betrayal after waking up from coma

Nurse saves three newborn babies in wake of Beirut explosion

"Just sour grapes": Ellen's ratings in the wake of allegations

Coronavirus is a wake-up call: our war with the environment is leading to pandemics

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle share emotional message in wake of coronavirus

​Royal lockdown: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle bunker down in wake of coronavirus

"Raw with grief": White Island volcano victim finally wakes from coma to find husband and stepdaughter died

Turia Pitt inspires emotional movement in wake of new bushfire crisis

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Royal lockdown: Prince Harry and Meghan Markle bunker down in wake of coronavirus