brain

RAPPER Young Bleed has tragically died aged 51 after suffering a brain aneurysm.

The star, whose real name was Glenn Clifton Jr, sadly passed away on Saturday, his son confirmed.

He had been rushed to hospital in the days leading up to his death after collapsing in Las Vegas.

Young Bleed rose to fame in the 90s with the hit “How You Do That” and went on to release nine studio albums.

The rap icon’s son, Ty’Gee Ramon Clifton, confirmed the tragic news with an Instagram video captioned: “RIP to the biggest legend I know.”

Addressing fans in the clip, he said: “As of November 1st, my dad gained his wings.

“This is a tough topic for me – not sure how it’s going to go. But I am here to clear up a lot of false narratives.”

He added: “I know with him being a legend worldwide, all lot of people were concerned for him, they wasn’t sure what they heard.

“So I’m here to confirm as his oldest child that he has gained his wings.

“My dad was 51 years out when this happened to him… The My dad didn’t have no real health issues, these are just chapters in life.

“I hope after this video that people that are going through grieving moments find peace in this video.

“My dad like most as you get in [older] in age take had high blood pressure. He would take his medicines… Once he collapsed he did pass from the aneurysm, the bleed to the brain.”

The late rapper’s mother has also set up a GoFundMe page to help cover the cost of medical and funeral expenses. 

She had started the page when he had been hospitalized and admitted it was ‘completely unexpected and has turned our world upside down.’

Young Bleed was born on June 6, 1974, in Baton Rouge, Louisiana and his passion for music was sparked at nine-years-old.

He shot to fame in the 90s and worked with fellow rappers C-Loc, Max Minelli, J-Von, and J-Von’s younger brother Chris Hamilton.

They created the group Concentration Camp in 1995 and his song with C-Loc How You Do That was released two years later, seeing him rise within the industry.

The song peaked at No. 1 on Billboard’s R&B and Hip Hop album charts the following year.

SUPERSTAR Taylor Swift has quietly donated $100,000 to help save the life of little girl fighting cancer. 

The Sun can reveal the Look What You Made Me singer, 35, made the huge donation on Friday night after finding herself trawling the pages of GoFundMe. 

The singer’s money will go towards to helping a little girl named Lilah who suffered her first seizure aged 18 months before having surgery to remove a stage 4 tumour just weeks later.

She has since been diagnosed with a very aggressive form of brain cancer – with only 58 known cases in the world. 

A source said: “Taylor has always been keen to give back and help others but even by her standard this is staggering. 

“She often finds herself on GoFundMe reading about the plight of others and Lilah’s story really touched her.

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Taylor Swift stuns in a sexy sequined dress and matching heels

“Hopefully, her donation can help bring an end to her years of pain.”

Lilah’s mum previously took to social media to reveal how she turned to Taylor’s music to help get her through her darkest moments. 

She even almost named her daughter after Taylor’s 2020 single Willow. 

Posting on Instagram, she wrote: “Also Lilah’s name was originally going to be Willow. 

“We were set on that name my whole pregnancy but ultimately ended on Lilah. I listened to Taylor my whole pregnancy and then birthed a mini Swiftie.”

Lilah loves Taylor’s music and during her cancer treatment she always found joy in it. I hope Lilah gets through this diagnosis and gets to one day go to a Taylor Swift concert in person. I know she would love it.”

After two rounds of chemo Lilah and her family are now trying to figure out the next stage of treatment. 

Her family added via her GoFundMe page: “All the donations we receive will help us with travel expenses and paying bills as we are still out of work while Lilah is in treatment.”

FEARNE Cotton has admitted she’s not sleeping well and her brain “feels a bit wobbly” – after it was revealed her paedo ex Ian Watkins was killed in prison. 

Two prisoners serving time at HMP Wakefield were arrested this week for the alleged murder of the shamed Lostprophets singer after he was stabbed to death. 

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Fearne, 44, was rumoured to be dating Ian – who was 48 at the time of his death – in 2005, before he was jailed for 29 years in 2013 for offences including abusing babies.

Now the presenter has opened up about the struggles she’s been facing recently. 

Writing on Instagram, Fearne said: “Four life lessons from this week. 

“I’m not sleeping well. My brain is a bit wobbly at the moment but I’m grasping the lessons life is chucking my way.”

Fearne was flooded with support from followers and friends, including fellow presenter Holly Willoughby. 

Holly, 44, commented: “Love you Cotton Chops.” 

The two stars, who have been friends for 17 years after starting their careers hosting kids’ TV, are said to have reconnected last year after drifting apart. 

They worked together on Celebrity Juice but reportedly grew apart when Fearne quit the show in 2018. 

Meanwhile Ian is understood to have been ambushed and stabbed as inmates were allowed out of their cells.

West Yorkshire Police confirmed Watkins had died after being “seriously assaulted”.

The force said: “Detectives have charged two men with murder after the death of a prisoner at HMP Wakefield on Saturday.

“Ian Watkins, 48, was pronounced dead after being seriously assaulted at HMP Wakefield on Saturday morning(11 October).

“Rashid Gedel, 25, and Samuel Dodsworth, 43, both of HMP Wakefield have both been charged with murder.

“They are due to appear at Leeds Magistrates Court this morning.”

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A LOVE Island star opened up about his secret 18-month health battle, saying ‘I felt like my brain was falling out’.

Chris Williamson, 37, featured on the ITV2 dating show’s first series in 2015.

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He entered the villa on Day 1, however, he was ultimately “dumped” on Day 19.

Speaking in a video posted on his YouTube channel, Chris discussed his health with subscribers.

In particular, his experience facing toxic mould exposure, Lyme disease and EBV.

In a clip recorded in September 2024, Chris said: “Struggling, yeah, in the last week.

“Five episodes in three days in New York. Two episodes in two days in Florida, plus travelling. Plus a bunch of meetings.

“It’s felt like my brain is trying to fall out of my ears the entire time.

“Memory is really rough, thoughts are very muddy. Getting confused in the middle of sentences.

“So it’s probably the worst that my mind’s been – just disheartening as I’ve been working on trying to get out of all this.

“Mould, EBV, Lyme, whatever it is, stuff for six months, more.

“It’s disheartening. I’ve no idea how far along I am, it feels like I’m going backward.”

Chris also appeared on dating show Take Me Out and has completely reinvented himself following his reality star days and is now a millionaire.

He earned the bulk of his fortune through his podcast, Modern Wisdom.

Chris does not look back fondly on his time on Love Island, stating in a chat with Sadia Khan he was “pretty bored” and having an ‘”existential crisis” while in the villa. 

He told the BBC: “I was living this persona of the professional party boy – the big name on campus, the guy with the hair out front [of the club], that wanted people to need him, that thought he had found the culture and industry he belonged in.

“Then I got on to Love Island and had nowhere to hide from people who were the person I was pretending to be.

“I was there with people who were genuinely extroverted, outgoing, party people. And I was just playing a role…

“I’d convinced myself [Love Island] was something that made me finally belong. And I didn’t belong.”

Love Island airs on ITV2 and ITVX.

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THE highstreet discount store is asking shoppers to stop using Harry Potter mugs immediately as they contain ‘unsafe metals’.

TKMaxx is recalling Harry Potter and South Park mugs, because they do not meet the safety standards required for materials that come into contact with food or drink.

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The Harry Potter mug from Blue Sky Designs Limited allowed fans to “create their own Hogwarts” by customising the mug with 13 reusable stickers.

The other mug features characters from hit American cartoon South Park.

People who bought the items with product codes 013167 and 596096 should return the items to any TK Maxx or Homesense store.

The recall on both mugs was triggered when testing revealed that the coating may release levels of heavy metals that exceed safe limits, potentially posing a health risk if used to consume food or drinks.

Heavy metals include arsenic, mercury and lead as well as lesser known ones such as cadmium – but it is unclear what metals the warning includes.

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Therefore TKMaxx is urging anyone who bought either the Harry Potter or South Park mug, sold between May and September 2025 to “stop using it immediately”.

A TK Maxx spokesperson said: “The vendor is recalling these products because they do not meet safety standards for materials intended to come into contact with food.”

“Testing has shown that the coating may release levels of heavy metals that exceed safe limits, which could pose a potential health risk if used with food or beverages.”

Possible side effects of consuming unsafe metals include nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain, confusion, and organ damage to the brain, kidneys, and liver.

Chronic exposure, if left untreated can result in serious long-term issues, including anemia, miscarriage, developmental problems in children, and brain damage.

Shoppers are to return the items to any TK Maxx or Homesense store for a full refund or replacement.

Anyone with further questions can call 01923 473561 or email [email protected]. 

This comes only days after the company urgently recalled a kids’ swimming item that “could pose a risk of drowning.”

From April to August, the retailer had sold a range of Children’s Swim Vests that they’ve now said could pose a safety hazard.

TK Maxx says the affected product codes on price ticket and receipt include 819852, 819854, 819856, 819864, 819866, 819868, 819870, 819884, 819886, 819888, 819904, 819906, 819908, 819910, 819911, 819912, 819914.

Retired NBA player and former Harvard-Westlake star Jason Collins is undergoing treatment for a brain tumor, the NBA said Thursday in a statement released on behalf of Collins and his family.

“Jason and his family welcome your support and prayers and kindly ask for privacy as they dedicate their attention to Jason’s health and well-being,” the league said.

A 46-year-old native of Northridge, Jason Collins and twin brother, Jarron, led Harvard-Westlake to state Division III titles in 1996 and 1997, with the former being named the state Division III player of the year both seasons. His 1,500 career rebounds stood as a CIF state record until 2010, when Hemet West Valley’s Joe Burton finished his career with 1,721 rebounds.

Collins made first-team All-Pac-10 during his senior year at Stanford. He was selected 18th overall in the 2001 draft by the Houston Rockets and traded on draft night to the New Jersey Nets.

Averaging 3.6 points and 3.7 rebounds during his 13-year NBA career, Collins also played for the Memphis Grizzlies, Minnesota Timberwolves, Atlanta Hawks, Boston Celtics and Washington Wizards.

He was unsigned in April 2013 when he came out as gay in an open letter published in Sports Illustrated.

Signed by the Brooklyn Nets several months later, Collins became the first active NBA player to have come out as gay when the Nets played the Lakers on Feb. 23, 2014. He retired at the end of that season and has continued working with the league as an NBA Cares ambassador.

Collins and longtime partner Brunson Green were married in May.

CHICKENPOX has gained a reputation as a ‘harmless’ childhood illness that it’s best to get over with – but it could result in dangerous complications for some and may even prove fatal.

It was announced that children will be given chickenpox vaccines for free on the NHS for the first time from January 2026.

The jab is already used in the US, Canada, Australia and Germany.

One to three-year-olds in the UK will receive the chickenpox vaccine along with the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) jab.

The combined vaccine will now be dubbed MMRV, as it will protect against the varicella zoster virus.

Responding to news of the chickenpox vaccine rollout in the UK, Dr Gayatri Amirthalingam, from the UK Health Security Agency, said: “For some babies, young children and even adults, chickenpox can be very serious.

“It is excellent news that we will be introducing a vaccine. It could be a lifesaver.”

The news was coupled with warnings from experts that nearly one in five school-starters are not fully protected against preventable diseases – with uptake for the four-in-one diphtheria, tetanus, polio and whooping cough booster and MMR jabs having dropped again.

Chickenpox is a highly contagious infection known for its telltale itchy, spotty rash that blisters and scabs over.

But before these spots appear, the virus can also cause a high temperature, aches and pains, and loss of appetite.

Though it’s mostly known to infect children, adults can also catch chickenpox if they didn’t pick it up in childhood.

These infections tend to be more severe and adults with a varicella infection are more likely to be admitted to hospital.

Most people will recover on their own within a week or two, but the infection can be serious, even life-threatening, for some – especially if they’re very young or old, pregnant or have a weakened immune system.

The illness can result in bacterial skin infections and in rare cases, pneumonia, brain swelling and stroke.

For some, these complications can be fatal.

An average of around 20 people die of chickenpox per year, according to the Vaccine Knowledge Project at the University of Oxford.

This ranges from 17 deaths in 2017, to four in 2020, according to Office for National Statistics data.

Eighty per cent of deaths from chickenpox infections in England and Wales occur in adults, the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) states.

1. Bacterial infections

Chickenpox spots can appear anywhere on the body – including inside the mouth and around the genitals.

They tend to develop into fluid-filled blisters, before bursting and scabbing over, which can take a few days.

The spots tend to be maddeningly itchy, so it can be hard to resist the temptation of scratching them – though soothing creams and cool baths can help.

Sometimes the chickenpox spots can get infected with bacteria – probably from scratching, according to healthcare provider Bupa.

Signs of a bacterial infection include a high temperature and redness and pain around the chickenpox spots.

You should seek urgent medical help if you or your child develop these symptoms.

2. Dehydration

Young children do run the risk of becoming dehydrated due to chickenpox.

For babies and kids, fewer wet nappies and peeing less can be telltale signs of dehydration.

Other signs may include:

• Feeling thirsty
• Dark yellow, strong-smelling pee
• Feeling dizzy or lightheaded
• Feeling tired
• A dry mouth, lips and tongue
• Sunken eyes

Call NHS 111 if you suspect you or your little one are dehydrated from chickenpox.

3. Pneumonia

Some people – especially adults – can develop pneumonia, inflammation of the lungs, after being infected with chickenpox.

Pneumonia is the most common chickenpox complication in adults, according to NICE.

Smokers are particularly at risk.

Symptoms of pneumonia can include:

• A cough with yellow or green mucus
• Shortness of breath
• A high temperature
• Chest pain
• An aching body
• Feeling very tired
• Loss of appetite
• Making wheezing noises when you breathe
• Feeling confused

4. Brain swelling

Infection or swelling of the brain, known as encephalitis, is a rare complication of the chickenpox infection.

Professor Benedict Michael, Institute of Infection, University of Liverpool, said: “Varicella-zoster virus is the second leading cause of brain infection (or ‘encephalitis’) in the UK, which can be life-threatening.

“Early diagnosis and treatment are essential, but prevention through vaccination is the most effective way to protect children and families from this serious complication.”

Dr Ava Easton, Chief Executive of Encephalitis International, added: “By making [the chickenpox vaccine] available to every child, we’re not only reducing the spread of chickenpox but also helping to stop some families from ever facing the devastating impact of encephalitis.

“That’s a powerful step forward for children’s health and for awareness of a condition too few people know about.”

Encephalitis usually starts off with flu-like symptoms, such as a high temperature and headache.

More serious symptoms develop in the next few hours, days or weeks, including:

• Confusion or disorientation
• Seizures or fits
• Changes in personality and behaviour
• Difficulty speaking
• Weakness or loss of movement in some parts of the body
• Loss of consciousness

Dial 999 for an ambulance immediately if you or someone else has these serious symptoms.

5. Stroke

According to the Stroke Association, children who develop chickenpox may have a four times higher risk of stroke in the six months following infection.

“However, stroke in children is still rare and the finding translates into a very small actual increase in their stroke risk,” it noted.

Studies by the organisation also found that adults with shingles – also caused by the varicella zoster virus – may also have an increased risk of stroke up until six months afterwards.

“This is particularly within the first few weeks, and for individuals with shingles around the eye,” Stroke Association said.

“Oral antiviral drugs used to treat shingles may be able to reduce this risk.”

6. Sepsis

In rare cases, chickenpox can result in sepsis – when the body’s immune system overreacts to an infection, attacking its own tissues and organs.

Sepsis can be life threatening and requires immediate medical help.

It can also be hard to spot, as there are lots of possible symptoms.

In adults, remember the SEPSIS acronym:

• Slurred speech or confusion
• Extreme shivering or muscle pain
• Passing no urine (in a day)
• Severe breathlessness
• It feels like you’re going to die
• Skin mottled, discoloured, or cold

Other signs include:

• High or very low body temperature
• Rapid heart rate
• Low blood pressure
• Rapid breathing

In children, look out for: 

• Fast breathing
• Lethargy or difficulty waking up
• Mottled, pale, or bluish skin
• Very cold hands and feet
• Seizures
• A rash that doesn’t fade when pressed ,which is a sign of meningococcal sepsis
• Babies not feeding or vomiting 

Shigetoshi Kotari and Hiromasa Urakawa pass away within a day of each other after separate bouts on the same card.

Two Japanese boxers have died from brain injuries sustained in separate bouts on the same card at Tokyo’s Korakuen Hall.

Shigetoshi Kotari, 28, collapsed shortly after completing a 12-round draw against Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) junior lightweight champion Yamato Hata on August 2.

He underwent emergency brain surgery for a subdural haematoma – a condition in which blood collects between the brain and skull – but died on Friday.

“Rest in peace, Shigetoshi Kotari,” the World Boxing Organization (WBO) wrote on social media. “The boxing world mourns the tragic passing of Japanese fighter Shigetoshi Kotari, who succumbed to injuries sustained during his August 2nd title fight.

“A warrior in the ring. A fighter in spirit. Gone too soon. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, team, and the entire Japanese boxing community.”

On Saturday, 28-year-old Hiromasa Urakawa died after suffering the same injury during a knockout loss to Yoji Saito. He had undergone a craniotomy in an attempt to save his life.

“This heartbreaking news comes just days after the passing of Shigetoshi Kotari, who died from injuries suffered in his fight on the same card,” the WBO said in another social media post on Saturday. “We extend our deepest condolences to the families, friends, and the Japanese boxing community during this incredibly difficult time.”

In response, the Japanese Boxing Commission announced all OPBF title bouts will now be reduced from 12 rounds to 10.

Earlier this year, Irish boxer John Cooney died a week after being taken into intensive care following his Celtic super-featherweight title defeat to Nathan Howells in Belfast.

The World Boxing Organisation (WBO) said, external it “mourns the passing of Japanese boxer Hiromasa Urakawa, who tragically succumbed to injuries sustained during his fight against Yoji Saito”.

It added: “This heartbreaking news comes just days after the passing of Shigetoshi Kotari, who died from injuries suffered in his fight on the same card.

“We extend our deepest condolences to the families, friends and the Japanese boxing community during this incredibly difficult time.”

Following the event, the Japan Boxing Commission announced all Oriental and Pacific Boxing Federation (OPBF) title bouts will now be 10 rounds instead of 12.

Urakawa is the third high-profile boxer to die in 2025 after Irishman John Cooney passed away in February following a fight in Belfast.

Cooney died aged 28 after suffering an intracranial haemorrhage from his fight against Welshman Nathan Howells.

Young adult comedies are best when the misery of high school is paired with other extreme types of terror — a plane crash, a supernatural mystery, vampires. “Wednesday,” Netflix’s Addams Family series, did just that and more when it premiered in 2022, combining sardonic wit, smart casting and murder in a beautifully macabre setting influenced by producer and director Tim Burton. Jenna Ortega stars as the Addams’ dark-hearted daughter. Her deadpan delivery and zombie prom dance solidified “Wednesday” as one of the year’s best and liveliest funerary comedies.

The second season of “Wednesday,” Part 1 of which debuts Wednesday followed by Part 2 on Sept. 3, finds the show’s namesake back at Nevermore Academy, where she’s faced with challenges familiar to last season. She must navigate the idiocy of her high school peers while solving a metaphysical murder mystery.

But there’s a new twist that threatens to undermine the unflappable protagonist, and it’s a teenager’s worst nightmare — even for a girl who enjoys night terrors. Wednesday’s weird family is headed to school with her. Brother Pugsley (Isaac Ordonez) is a Nevermore freshman and her parents Morticia (Catherine Zeta-Jones) and Gomez (Luis Guzmán) are helping with fundraising and such. Oh the horror.

Jenna Ortega’s Wednesday Addams “dance dance dances with her hands, hands, hands” in “Wednesday” Season 1.

(Netflix)

Season 2 follows many of the same formulas, replete with eviscerating comebacks from Daddy’s Little Viper. When her new high school principal, Barry Dort (Steve Buscemi), asks if she’d like a Nevermore Academy spirit sticker, she responds, “Only if you have one that says ‘Do Not Resuscitate.’” And when describing her underachieving brother’s shortcomings, she says, “He’s got the brains of a dung beetle and the ambitions of a French bureaucrat.”

But it’s impossible to recapture the magic of the first season, and “Wednesday” Season 2 isn’t quite as crisp or surprising. In the first four episodes made available for review, Wednesday’s zingers aren’t as wickedly sharp as they once were. And because we know she’s going to be annoyed by her classmates, such as perky werewolf roommate Enid (Emma Myers), the dynamic is not as morbidly charming.

The bond between Addams family members, however, is more deeply explored and their dysfunctional interactions add a new layer of contemptuous humor to the mix. The relationship between Wednesday and Morticia is strained, and not just due to the usual disgust teen daughters have toward their mothers. “When do I get to read your novel?” asks Morticia of her daughter’s work in progress, “Viper de la Muerte.” Wednesday’s inner voice answers, “When the sun explodes and the Earth is consumed in a molten apocalypse.” Her outside voice? “Soon, Mother. Soon.”

Morticia is worried about Wednesday’s increasing use of her psychic powers because similar abilities drove another family member mad. Her daughter is showing troubling signs such as black tears streaming from her eyes each time she has a psychic episode — though it’s a good look, especially for those contemplating their next Halloween costume.

We thankfully see a lot more of eccentric Uncle Fester (Fred Armisen owns this role) as he helps Wednesday solve her latest case, sometimes using the benefit of his telekinetic powers. Christina Ricci, who played Wednesday in the 1991 film, is also back. The deranged villain from Season 1 is now a deranged inmate.

Welcome new additions include Grandmama Hester Frump (played by Joanna Lumley of “Absolutely Fabulous”), Morticia’s immaculately coiffed mother and wealthy mogul who owns Frump Mortuaries. She’s cold, conniving and happy to cause a deeper rift between her granddaughter and daughter. And in a perfect casting move, Christopher Lloyd, who played Fester in the film, appears as a disembodied head in a jar who teaches at the academy.

Thing, the lone hand played by Romanian magician Victor Dorobantu, perhaps has the most screen time of anyone. Season 2 opens with the stitched-up appendage beating the hell out of a serial killer. It’s at once satisfying and stupidly hilarious.

As for the plot, it’s much the same as last season. There’s another mystery to solve, but this time it involves killer surveillance crows, a hooded stalker and at least a few visits to an insane asylum. There’s also a walking dead character added to the mix, so expect gore in the form of goo, brains and bugs.

But it’s really the performances, casting and artistic flourishes that make “Wednesday” a ghoulish delight. A short ghost story about a boy with a clockwork heart buried under the Skull Tree is told via Burton claymation, in black-and-white, in the spirit of “Frankenweenie.” It’s beautiful, sweet and sorrow-filled. “Wednesday” isn’t what it was and that’s OK. It still works as spooky comedy about a girl and her severed hand.

Every fall, more than a million young Americans don helmets and padded shoulder pads to play high school football. But this year, questions are intensifying over the risk youth athletes face from repeated head injuries after a gunman who played football in Southern California claimed he suffered from a degenerative brain disease.

After killing four and taking his own life, Shane Tamura — a former varsity player at two Los Angeles-area high schools — left behind a three-page suicide note, authorities say, alleging he suffered from chronic traumatic encephalopathy.

“Football gave me CTE,” Tamura reportedly wrote. “Study my brain please.”

It remains unclear whether the 27-year-old actually suffered from CTE, because the disease can only be diagnosed definitively through brain dissection. However, the claim comes at a time of growing concern over the health risks of contact sports in high school — football in particular.

Caused by repeated head injuries, including concussions and non-concussive impacts, CTE tends to be mostly diagnosed in those who have played football for a decade or longer. However, four years of high school football could expose a player to CTE, said Chris Nowinski, co-founder of the Concussion Legacy Foundation, a nonprofit group that supports athletes and others affected by CTE and concussions.

“The odds of having CTE are best correlated to the number of seasons played,” Nowinski said. “The best window we have is we have studied 45 former high school players who died before 30, and 31% had CTE.”

The issue of chronic brain injury and youth football has been a heated one in Southern California.

Facing political pressure last year, Gov. Gavin Newsom vowed to veto any legislation that sought to ban youth tackle football in the state. Citing parental freedom to decide on which sports their children can participate in, Newsom said he would work with legislators to strengthen safety in the sport.

Currently, California maintains protocols for student athletes who experience concussions or a head injury during a game. Those measures include removing the student from play and evaluation from a licensed health care professional.

The California Youth Football Act also limits full-contact practices for youth football teams to no more than 30 minutes a day for no more than two days per week. It also bans full-contact practices for youth football teams during the off season.

While such laws attempt to limit the risk of injury, experts say the threat cannot be removed entirely.

“What ends up mattering more than anything else, really, is just how long you’re playing, how many hits to the head you’ve gotten over that time, and the intensity of those hits to the head that you experience: Those are what play the biggest role in someone’s risk,” said Dr. Daniel Daneshvar, chief of brain injury rehabilitation at Harvard Medical School.

“So can a high school player get it? Yes,” Daneshvar said.

Tamura appeared to blame the NFL for his condition, according to officials, although he never played football beyond high school.

Experts say players such as Tamura, who is listed in online player profiles as performing offensive and defensive roles, are particularly at risk for CTE.

“On his online Huddle profile, it says he was also a defensive back, and he was clearly a very good running back, which would have twice the exposure,” Nowinski said.

It could take from two to six months for scientists to determine whether the gunman actually suffered from CTE, experts say. Such an examination however would require the family’s permission.

High school athletes who are playing football warrant greater study and treatment, Daneshvar said.

“Of the 3.97 million football players in this country, those that are playing at the college and the professional level are less than 4%, so we’re talking about over 96% of people are playing at some youth or high school level,” Daneshvar said.

“Although they’re likely to be at lower risk, based on the fact that they likely have played fewer years than someone who plays at the collegiate pro level, their numbers are greater.”

One of the most well-known cases of a young football player who developed severe CTE is Aaron Hernandez, a tight end in the National Football League who played three seasons with the New England Patriots until his 2013 arrest in the murder of fellow football player Odin Lloyd.

Hernandez was convicted in 2015, and when he died at the age of 27, researchers at Boston University studied his brain and diagnosed him with CTE Stage 3, caused by repeated head trauma.

“When you see someone with Stage 1 and a couple of microscopic lesions, it’s tough to make an interpretation as to how that might affect their behavior,” Nowinski said. But with a person with Stage 3, such as Hernandez, he said, “you can be confident he was not the same person at 27 as he was at 15. Everybody in Stage 3 has some level of symptoms and impairment. “

The disease starts with small lesions developing in the prefrontal cortex, along the brain stem, which sets off a chain reaction that slowly kills brain cells. It’s a reaction that can continue to spread long after repeated impacts stop, Nowinski said.

If scientists determine that Tamura had CTE, Nowinski stressed that did not mean the brain disease caused him or others to commit crimes.

“It’s very clear that most people who have developed CTE have not become murderers, and most people have not had extraordinary psychiatric symptoms that involve them to have involuntary psychiatric holds,” Nowinski said.

However, other forms of brain damage could have affected his behavior.

“CTE is not the entire story,” Nowinski said, noting that experts have identified at least 15 other types of changes to the brain that are associated with traumatic brain injury and repetitive traumatic brain injury. “Even in the absence of CTE, it doesn’t mean that brain damage can’t be driving this. And in many cases, we think that the non-CTE changes are more profound than the early stage CTE changes in people who are young, who have changed”

Diagnosing CTE is a complex process and involves the study of more than 20 regions of the brain, Nowinski said.

First, the brain is preserved in formalin for two weeks. When it is pulled out, it is examined for patterns of atrophy or old contusions. Then, the brain is sliced up and very thin sections are put on glass slides and stained with antibodies that help make abnormal proteins visible.

There is currently no treatment for CTE, but Daneshvar said it should not be viewed fatalistically.

“We have many patients who are experiencing symptoms that may be associated with CTE pathology, and we’re able to identify their symptoms and treat them, and they get better,” he said. “If somebody has a severe depression, there are medications and interventions we can do to help manage their depression.”

As another high school football season approaches, California legislators are proposing Assembly Bill 708, which would allow youth players to wear padded helmet add-ons that are sometimes worn by NFL players. Such equipment is currently prohibited.

The US football league has previously faced legal challenges over its failure to address players’ concussions.

New York City Mayor Eric Adams has said that a gunman who killed five people, including himself, sought out the headquarters of the National Football League (NFL), which he blamed for the brain injuries he suffered from.

Adams said on Tuesday that a note carried by the shooter, identified as 27-year-old Shane Tamura, suggests his target was the NFL.

“The note alluded to that he felt he had CTE [chronic traumatic encephalopathy], a known brain injury for those who participate in contact sports,” Adams told CBS News. “He appeared to have blamed the NFL for his injury.”

But Tamura appears to have arrived at the wrong floor of a New York City office tower and instead opened fire in the offices of a real estate firm, on top of shooting people in the ground-floor lobby.

The NFL has previously faced litigation relating to concussions suffered by football players.

The organisation, which oversees professional US football, has denied any link between conditions like CTE and its sport, but it has nevertheless paid out more than $1bn to settle concussion-related lawsuits.

Monday’s shooting has also renewed debate about mass shootings and access to firearms in the US. Tamura reportedly entered the building with an AR-15-style rifle.

The NFL’s headquarters are located in a skyscraper that it shares with other firms.

Tamara is believed to have started shooting as he entered the lobby of the skyscraper. Then, police believe he took the wrong elevator, arriving at the 33rd floor, which contained the offices of Rudin Management, a real estate firm.

There, he opened fire once more and then took his own life.

Among those killed in the shooting was a 36-year-old police officer named Didarul Islam, who had come to the US from Bangladesh and had been on the force for three years.

Other victims include security guard Aland Etienne, Julia Hyman of Rudin Management, and an executive at the BlackRock investment firm, Wesley LePatner.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell stated in a memo that there would be an “increased security presence” at the organisation’s offices over the coming weeks.

Tamura is a resident of Las Vegas, Nevada, with a history of mental health issues. He never played in the NFL, but he did play football in high school.

The news outlet Bloomberg reported that Tamura’s note alleges that his football career was cut short by a brain injury.

The note also called for his brain to be studied. CTE can only be diagnosed through an autopsy.

Billy Joel reassured fans about his health on Monday.

The 76-year-old musician had previously canceled all of his scheduled concerts after announcing in May that he was diagnosed with normal pressure hydrocephalus (NPH). NPH occurs when excess cerebrospinal fluid accumulates in the brain’s ventricles, with patients experiencing cognitive decline, difficulty walking and urinary incontinence, according to the Alzheimer’s Assn.

Joel’s recent concert performances worsened his symptoms, leading to hearing, vision and balance problems, he shared in a May 23 statement. While on Bill Maher’s podcast, “Club Random,” the “Piano Man” crooner said he often feels like he’s on a boat, but otherwise, he’s doing just fine.

“I feel good,” Joel said, seated at a piano. “They keep referring to what I have as a brain disorder so it sounds a lot worse than what I’m feeling.”

Joel noted that the condition is idiopathic, meaning no one knows the cause.

“I thought it must be from drinking,” he said, adding that he doesn’t drink anymore. “I used to, like a fish.”

Joel finished his decade-long residency at Madison Square Garden in July 2024 after 104 monthly shows at the venue. His now-canceled tour included dates across the U.S. and performances with Stevie Nicks, Rod Stewart and Sting.

The first installment of Joel’s documentary, “Billy Joel: And So It Goes,” premiered Friday on HBO. The two-part series takes a deep dive into the pianist’s journey from a bullied kid in Long Island to a legendary hitmaker, and features appearances from Paul McCartney, Bruce Springsteen, Pink and Sting.

Part 1 “is notable in how it reframes the narrative around his relationship with his former wife and manager Elizabeth Weber, explaining how she was instrumental in guiding his career and helping him become a superstar — and how songs like ‘Big Shot’ and ‘Stiletto’ were inspired by the rocky times in their marriage,” wrote Times television editor Maira Garcia. “It’s a compelling and nuanced portrait of an imperfect person who created timeless music and whose influence continues to reverberate.”

Part 2 of “And So It Goes” premieres Friday on HBO and HBO Max.

Three-year-old Amr al-Hams lies immobile in his southern Gaza hospital bed with shrapnel embedded in his brain from an Israeli air strike.

Unable to walk or speak, his eyes dart around, searching for his mother, his aunt Nour believes.

Amr’s mother, Inas, was nine months pregnant when she took the family to visit her parents in northern Gaza. That night, their tent was struck. The attack killed his mother, her unborn baby, two of Amr’s siblings and his grandfather.

Amr survived after being rushed to intensive care with a breathing tube. His grief-stricken father is nearly speechless.

Now at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, Amr has left intensive care but suffers from severe malnutrition. The fortified milk he requires vanished during Israel’s months-long blockade.

Nour feeds him mashed lentils through a syringe. She sleeps beside him, changes his nappies and comforts him during seizures.

“I tell him his mother will be back soon,” she says. “Other times, I give him a toy. But he cries. I think he misses her.”

Doctors say Amr needs immediate evacuation from the conflict zone. Without specialised care and therapy, his brain injuries will likely cause permanent damage.

“His brain is still developing,” Nour says. “Will he walk again? Speak again? So long as he is in Gaza, there is no recovery.”

When it comes to vaccines, virtually nothing that comes out of Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s mouth is true.

The man in charge of the nation’s health and well being is impervious to science, expertise and knowledge. His brand of arrogance is not just dangerous, it is lethal. Undermining trust in vaccines, he will have the blood of children around the world on his hands.

Scratch that.

He already does, as he presides over the second largest measles outbreak in this country since the disease was declared “eliminated” a quarter century ago.

“Vaccines have become a divisive issue in American politics,” Kennedy wrote the other day in a Wall Street Journal essay, “but there is one thing all parties can agree on: The U.S. faces a crisis of public trust.”

The lack of self-awareness would be funny if it weren’t so tragic.

Over the past two decades or so, Kennedy has done more than almost any other American to destroy the public’s trust in vaccines and science. And now he’s bemoaning the very thing he has helped cause.

Earlier this month, Kennedy fired the 17 medical and public health experts of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices — qualified doctors and public health experts — and replaced them with a group of (mostly) anti-vaxxers in order to pursue his relentless, ascientific crusade.

On Thursday, at its first meeting, his newly reconstituted council voted to ban the preservative thimerosal from the few remaining vaccines that contain it, despite many studies showing that thimerosal is safe. On that point, even the Food and Drug Administration website is blunt: “A robust body of peer-reviewed scientific studies conducted in the U.S. and other countries support the safety of thimerosal-containing vaccines.”

“If you searched the world wide, you could not find a less suitable person to be leading healthcare efforts in the United States or the world,” psychiatrist Allen Frances told NPR on Thursday. Frances, who chaired the task force that changed how the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, or DSM, defines autism, published an essay in the New York Times on Monday explaining why the incidence of autism has increased but is neither an epidemic nor related to vaccines.

“The rapid rise in autism cases is not because of vaccines or environmental toxins,” Frances wrote, “but is rather the result of changes in the way that autism is defined and assessed — changes that I helped put into place.”

But Kennedy is not one to let the facts stand in the way of his cockamamie theories. Manufacturers long ago removed thimerosal from childhood vaccines because of unfounded fears it contained mercury that could accumulate in the brain and unfounded fears about a relationship between mercury and autism.

That did not stop one of Kennedy’s new council members, Lyn Redwood, who once led Children’s Health Defense, the anti-vaccine group founded by Kennedy, from declaring a victory for children.

“Removing a known neurotoxin from being injected into our most vulnerable population is a good place to start with making America healthy again,” Redwood told the committee.

Autism rates, by the way, have continued to climb despite the thimerosal ban. But fear not, gullible Americans, Kennedy has promised to pinpoint a cause for the complex condition by September!

Like his boss, Kennedy just makes stuff up.

On Wednesday, he halted a $1-billion American commitment to Gavi, an organization that provides vaccines to millions of children around the world, wrongly accusing the group of failing to investigate adverse reactions to the diptheria vaccine.

“This is utterly disastrous for children around the world and for public health,” Atul Gawande, a surgeon who worked in the Biden administration, told the New York Times.

Unilaterally, and contrary to the evidence, Kennedy decided to abandon the CDC recommendation that healthy pregnant women receive COVID vaccines. But an unvaccinated pregnant woman’s COVID infection can lead to serious health problems for her newborn. In fact, a study last year found that babies born to such mothers had “unusually high rates” of respiratory distress at or just after birth. According to the CDC, nearly 90% of babies who were hospitalized for COVID-19 had unvaccinated mothers. Also, vaccinated moms can pass protective antibodies to their fetuses, who will not be able to get a COVID shot until they are 6 months old.

What else? Oh yes: Kennedy once told podcaster Joe Rogan that the 1918 Spanish flu epidemic was “vaccine-induced flu” even though no flu vaccine existed at the time.

He also told Rogan that a 2003 study by physician scientist Michael Pichichero, an expert on the use of thimerosal in vaccines, involved feeding babies 6 months old and younger mercury-contaminated tuna sandwiches, and that 64 days later, the mercury was still in their system. “Who would do that?” Kennedy demanded.

Well, no one.

In the study, 40 babies were injected with vaccines containing thimerosal, while a control group of 21 babies got shots that did not contain the preservative. None was fed tuna. Ethylmercury, the form of mercury in thimerosal, the researchers concluded, “seems to be eliminated from blood rapidly via the stools.” (BTW, the mercury found in fish is methylmercury, a different chemical, which can damage the brain and nervous system. In a 2012 deposition for his divorce, which was revealed last year, Kennedy said he suffered memory loss and brain fog from mercury poisoning caused by eating too much tuna fish. He also revealed he has a dead worm in his brain.)

Kennedy’s tuna sandwich anecdote on Rogan’s podcast was “a ChatGPT-level of hallucination,” said Morgan McSweeney, a.k.a. “Dr. Noc,” a scientist with a doctorate in pharmaceutical sciences, focusing on immunology and antibodies. McSweeney debunks the idiotic medical claims of non-scientists like Kennedy in his popular social media videos.

Speaking of AI hallucinations, on Tuesday, at a congressional committee hearing, Kennedy was questioned about inaccuracies, misinformation and made up research and citations for nonexistent studies in the first report from his Make America Healthy Again Commission.

The report focused on how American children are being harmed by their poor diets, exposure to environmental toxins and, predictably, over-vaccination. It was immediately savaged by experts. “This is not an evidence-based report, and for all practical purposes, it should be junked at this point,” Georges C. Benjamin, executive director of the American Public Health Assn. told the Washington Post.

If Kennedy was sincere about improving the health of American children he would focus on combating real scourges like gun violence, drug overdoses, depression, poverty and lack of access to preventive healthcare. He would be fighting the proposed cuts to Medicaid tooth and nail.

Do you suppose he even knows that over the past 50 years, the lives of an estimated 154 million children have been saved by vaccines?

Or that he cares?

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@rabcarian

LONDON — To be clear, Coco Gauff didn’t bring up the word “star” during a recent interview with the Associated Press; the reporter did. So as Gauff began to answer a question about balancing her life as a professional athlete with her off-court interests, she caught herself repeating that term.

“I definitely didn’t know how it would look like,” she began with a smile, “before I got to be, I guess, a star — feels weird to call myself that — but I definitely did want to expand outside of tennis. Always. Since I was young.”

She still is young, by just about any measure, and she is a really good tennis player — Gauff owns the Grand Slam titles and No. 2 ranking to prove it as she heads into Wimbledon, which begins Monday — but the 21-year-old American is also more than that.

Someone unafraid to express her opinions about societal issues. Someone who connects with fans via social media. Someone who is the highest-paid female athlete in any sport, topping $30 million last year, according to Sportico.com, with less than a third of that from prize money and most via deals with companies such as UPS, New Balance, Rolex and Barilla. Someone who recently launched her own management firm.

And someone who wants to succeed in the business world long after she no longer swings a racket on tour.

“It’s definitely something that I want to start to step up for post-career. Kind of start building that process, which is why I wanted to do it early. Because I didn’t want to feel like I was playing catch-up at the end of my career,” said Gauff, who will face Dayana Yastremska in the first round at the All England Club on Tuesday.

Coco Gauff, left, and Aryna Sabalenka dance on the court Friday during a practice session ahead of the Wimbledon tournament.

(Kin Cheung / Associated Press)

“On the business side of things, it doesn’t come as natural as tennis feels. I’m still learning, and I have a lot to learn about,” Gauff said. “I’ve debated different things and what paths I wanted to take when it came to just stimulating my brain outside of the court, because I always knew that once I finished high school that I needed to put my brain into something else.”

In a campaign announced this week by UPS, which first partnered with Gauff in 2023 before she won that year’s U.S. Open, she connects with business coach Emma Grede — known for working with Kim Kardashian on Skims, and with Khloe Kardashian on Good American — to offer mentoring to three small-business owners.

“Coco plays a key role in helping us connect with those younger Gen-Z business owners — emerging or younger entrepreneurs,” Betsy Wilson, vice president of digital marketing and brand activation at UPS, said in a phone interview. “Obviously, she’s very relevant in social media and in culture, and working with Coco helps us really connect with that younger group.”

While Grede helped the entrepreneurs, Gauff also got the opportunity to pick up tips.

“It’s really cool to learn from someone like her,” Gauff said. “Whenever I feel like I’m ready to make that leap, I can definitely reach out to her for advice and things like that. … This will help me right now and definitely in the long term.”

Fendrich writes for the Associated Press.

The assassination attempt on the presidential hopeful has rattled the country, which fears a return to darker days.

Colombian Senator Miguel Uribe Turbay is reported to be in extremely critical condition after undergoing surgery to tend to a brain bleed, just more than a week after being shot in the head during a campaign event.

The attack was part of an eruption of violence that has stoked fears of a return to the darker days of assassinations and bombings.

The Santa Fe Foundation hospital on Monday said that Uribe was stable after undergoing a “complementary” operation to his original surgery, but remained in serious critical condition.

It added that an urgent neurological procedure had been necessary because of clinical evidence and imaging showing an acute inter-cerebral bleed, but that the brain swelling persisted and bleeding remained difficult to control.

The 39-year-old potential presidential candidate from the right-wing opposition was shot in the head twice on June 7 during a rally in Bogota.

The assassination attempt, which was caught on video, recalled a streak of candidate assassinations in the 1980s and 1990s, a time when fighting between armed rebels, paramilitary groups, drug traffickers and state security forces touched the lives of many Colombians.

Three suspects, including a 15-year-old alleged shooter, are in custody. An adult man and woman are also being held.

The 15-year-old boy, who police believe was a “sicario” or hitman working for money, was charged last week with the attempted murder of Uribe, to which he pleaded not guilty. He was also charged with carrying a firearm.

The adult man, Carlos Eduardo Mora, has been charged for alleged involvement in planning the attack, providing the gun and being in the vehicle where the shooter changed his clothes after the attack, according to the attorney general’s office.

Uribe is a senator for the conservative Democratic Centre party and one of several candidates who hope to succeed left-wing President Gustavo Petro in the 2026 presidential vote.

He comes from a prominent political family. His grandfather, Julio Cesar Turbay, was president from 1978 to 1982, and his mother, journalist Diana Turbay, was killed in 1991 in a botched rescue attempt after being kidnapped by an armed group led by drug cartel lord Pablo Escobar.

The main dissident faction of the former Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) rebel group on Friday denied responsibility for the attack on Uribe, though it did accept responsibility for a series of unrelated bomb attacks.

Southwest Colombia was rocked by a series of explosions and gun attacks last week which has left at least seven people dead. The attacks hit Cali, the country’s third-largest city, and the nearby towns of Corinto, El Bordo and Jamundi, targeting police stations and other municipal buildings with car and motorcycle bombs, rifle fire and a suspected drone.

Colombia’s government has struggled to contain violence in urban and rural areas as several rebel groups try to take over territory abandoned by the FARC after its peace deal with the government.

Peace talks between the FARC-EMC faction and the government broke down last year after a series of attacks on Indigenous communities.

A MAN was left with brain damage after a vicious attack as he walked home from a night out.

Al Moreton woke up in hospital two days after the incident, with no memory of what happened.

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The 46-year-old was left with two bleeds on the brain, brain damage and four fractures to his skull, and has lost his job as a HGV driver as a result.

Doctors told him his injuries were consistent with being struck repeatedly, rather than a fall, he says.

But with police closing the case after being unable to find any CCTV footage, Al posted about it on Facebook before receiving an odd response.

He was sent a DM from a stranger telling him he may know who committed the attack but was too scared to give any further details.

Al had been attending a friend’s private birthday party at Bomba nightclub in Exeter on Friday, February 28.

He drove from his home in Cullompton, Devon, arriving at the club around 8pm – with the plan to get the last bus home at 11pm and pick up his car the next day.

However, Al is told by pals he became quickly intoxicated despite only having a few drinks, and fears he may have been spiked.

He told The Sun: “I don’t remember anything from after leaving the house due to my injuries.”

Al understands he left the club, in The Quay area of the city centre, at 10.30pm with the intention of heading for the bus station.

But he said witnesses told him he was seen walking the opposite direction towards the River Exe.

At around 11am the next day he was found by a passerby lying unconscious at Marsh Barton industrial estate, around two miles from the club.

“All I’ve been told is someone who spotted me picked me up and dropped me at the hospital,” he explained.

“He didn’t leave his name or anything, he just dropped me off and didn’t want to be involved in any other way.”

Al added: “I’d like to be able to thank the person. I’ve no idea who they are. It was a very strange event which has caused me massive problems.”

I’d like to be able to thank the person. I’ve no idea who they are. It was a very strange event which has caused me massive problems.

Al Moretonattack victim

He explained he had a “small recollection” of Saturday, March 1, “but thought that was a dream”, adding: “When I woke up on Sunday I realised it wasn’t a dream. I had family around me.”

Al said his injuries, according to hospital staff, “aren’t consistent with falling over – the injury to my forehead is consistent with being hit by something”.

He continued: “I’ve got no scraping – if I’d fallen over I would have hit something and scraped.

“I’ve just got particular points where I might have been hit by something.

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“They discounted the fact I had fallen over and must have been from an attack.”

Al said he reported it to police and they “investigated for a month or so” and was told officers had done door to door inquiries and searched for CCTV footage – but came up with nothing.

“It’s odd that there’s no footage of me, considering I ended up on an industrial estate where I assume there’s loads of cameras,” he said.

Judging by his route, Al believes he likely walked passed a couple of pubs too.

“Pubs would’ve been kicking out that sort of time and people would’ve been around and about,” he said.

Strangely, Al didn’t have any possessions missing when he woke up in the hospital.

“My phone was apparently missing but was actually picked up by a doctor who worked at the hospital, so I had it back when I woke up,” he explained.

“My wallet was there and there was no money missing, so it wasn’t a robbery.”

Roaming gang

Al theorised it could have been a gang roaming around who attacked him at random.

“They may have seen how vulnerable I was and decided to start something,” he said.

“I’m not a violent person, I wouldn’t have been aggressive, I never am when I’m drunk, I’m more of a lover than fighter when I’m drunk.”

He posted about the incident on Facebook a few days after getting out of hospital and then a couple of weeks ago noticed he had “four or five” messages in his spam folder.

“There was someone who had said that they thought they saw me actually not at the Quay but further away in a different direction, stumbling around drunk.

“I’ve got to hand that onto the police and see if they pursue that.”

He said another message was very strange. “Someone on Facebook said ‘I know who the people are’.

“They said ‘I’m a bit afraid to talk about it’ – but then said they would give further information for money, so I don’t know how real that was. I passed it onto police.”

The event Al was attending was a private, invite-only do for around 50 people.

Asked how likely it is he could’ve been spiked, he said: “I find it hard to believe, usually it’s women who get spiked. But speaking to someone else, they said actually all sorts of people get spiked because you’re left vulnerable and can be followed.”

He’s not sure if he was tested for substances in his blood while he was in hospital but said it wasn’t mentioned by the doctors.

Referring to his injuries, Al continued: “I had two bleeds on the brain, one on each side at the front and then four fractures around my right eye socket.

I’m not working, so struggling to pay rent and pay bills. It’s led to a dramatic change in my circumstances

Al Moretonattack victim

“That’s now been fixed and plated. One of the points I had a bleed I had some damage to the brain on that side, which has caused me to effectively lose my job because I’m a lorry driver.

“I’ve had my licences revoked for 12 months because I’m at a risk of seizures.

“I’m not working, so struggling to pay rent and pay bills. It’s led to a dramatic change in my circumstances.”

Al has been told he suffered “serious significant head injuries” but that his cognitive functions will improve over time.

“Like with a lot of injuries, it takes time while I recover – they said I should recover 100%, but they can’t be sure at this stage.”

Al says he was told by the DVLA he needed to prove he’s “less than a two percent risk” of seizures over a 12 month period before he can be given his licence back.

“I’ve not had a seizure and I don’t feel like I’ve been on the verge of having one,” he explained.

Al is currently suffering with post concussion syndrome, having spent a couple of months living at his mum’s home following the attack.

“I wasn’t bedridden but I was extremely tired and had constant headaches which were debilitating in themselves,” he said of that initial recovery period.

“I had constant headaches, woke up with them and went bed with them – I was drained and worn out by the injuries, so mostly stayed in bed.”

He added: “I’m keeping myself to myself. I’ve got a little bit of social anxiety after what happened.”

The Sun has approached Devon & Cornwall Police for comment.

Do you know more? Email [email protected]

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Billy Joel has canceled all upcoming concerts, revealing he has been diagnosed with a brain disorder that causes physical and mental issues.

Joel, 76, has normal pressure hydrocephalus, or NPH, according to a statement posted Friday on the piano man’s social media. “This condition has been exacerbated by recent concert performances, leading to problems with hearing, vision and balance,” the statement said.

“Under his doctor’s instructions, Billy is undergoing specific physical therapy and has been advised to refrain from performing during this recovery period.”

Symptoms of NPH — in which cerebrospinal fluid accumulates in the ventricles of the brain but pressure doesn’t increase — include difficulty walking, according to the Alzheimer’s Assn. Sufferers walk with a wide stance and their bodies leaning forward, as if they were trying to maintain balance on a boat.

The association’s website says that another symptom is cognitive decline, including slowed thinking, loss of interest in daily activities, forgetfulness, short-term memory loss and difficulty completing ordinary tasks. Later in the disease, bladder control can become an issue.

NPH is one of the few causes of dementia or cognitive decline that can be controlled or reversed with treatment, the association’s website says. Surgical treatment usually involves placement of a shunt. The condition is often misdiagnosed as Alzheimer’s or Parkinson’s disease.

Danny Bonaduce of “The Partridge Family,” radio and wrestling fame was diagnosed with NPH in 2023. The 65-year-old said in a 2024 interview that he initially thought he’d had a stroke, while doctors thought it was early-onset dementia or Alzheimer’s. It took “the better part of a year” for him to get a correct diagnosis, he said.

Bonaduce’s memory loss appears to have been serious: He showed the interviewer a photo of himself in a wheelchair checking out the house where he and his wife now live. He said he has no memory of visiting the place multiple times before moving there.

Billy Joel’s message Friday follows his mid-March announcement that he would postpone his upcoming tour to manage his health after surgery for an unspecified condition. At the time, the singer expected a full recovery after physical therapy.

Now, the statement said, Joel is “thankful for the excellent care he is receiving and is fully committed to prioritizing his health” and “looks forward to the day when he can once again take the stage.”

“I’m sincerely sorry to disappoint our audience, and thank you for understanding,” Joel said in Friday’s statement.

In late February, the “Just the Way You Are” singer fell after performing “It’s Still Rock and Roll to Me” in Connecticut. He quickly recovered; it’s unclear whether that incident was a symptom of the disease or simply coincidental.

Times staff writer Alexandra Del Rosario contributed to this report.