diagnosis

Strictly Come Dancing judge Anton Du Beke has opened up about his wife Hannah Summers’ battle with endometriosis and the couple’s IVF journey to parenthood

Strictly judge Anton Du Beke has opened up about his wife’s agonising battle with endometriosis and how it affected their journey to parenthood.

The BBC favourite married marketing executive Hannah Summers in 2017, having first met at Wentworth Golf Club in Surrey back in 2012. The pair welcomed twins George and Henrietta soon after tying the knot, following IVF treatment.

But Anton revealed on Giovanna Fletcher’s Happy mum Happy Baby podcast that Hannah had doubts about their ability to conceive because of her crippling condition.

The professional dancer admitted he “couldn’t understand the universe” after witnessing Hannah’s bond with her nephews, before opening up about their IVF experience.

He said: “I knew I wanted to be with her, I saw her with her nephews. She’s so kind and so caring, I just couldn’t understand the universe.”, reports Lancs Live, reports Wales Online.

“And whoever is upstairs, if anyone’s upstairs, looking down and going ‘you are the most perfect person to have children, but I’m not going to let you have any children because I’m going to give you this’.

“And I’m going to say ‘you’re going to have this endometriosis, and you’re going to suffer with this all of your life, chronically, and I’m not going to let you have any children.

“I thought that was peculiar, cruel, and inexplicable and unforgivable. And if ever I go up to somewhere and meet this person I would say ‘I think you’re not OK with decisions like this, this doesn’t make any sense to me.”

Anton has candidly spoken about the hurdles he and wife Hannah encountered during their fertility treatment, which ultimately brought them closer together.

The couple were blessed when the treatment worked first time, resulting in the birth of twins George and Henrietta in 2017, with their nuptials taking place later that same year.

In an emotional chat with Giovanna, Anton admitted his previous lack of understanding about endometriosis and highlighted the urgent need for increased government funding in women’s health.

Reflecting on their journey, he shared: “Then we went through the process of IVF, well crying out loud. You girls are extraordinary. As much as I want to get involved, all I can do is hold your hand. It makes me emotional every time I talk about it. The injections, the stress, the anxiety. I have anxiety and stress but it’s not my body.

“She has these injections and the bruises in the bum, in the thigh, in the stomach. And you’re trying to help but what can you do? Whatever you want, tell me and I’ll do it but that’s all you have and it’s horrendous as a man to watch it.

“You feel so inadequate and you want to do so much more but I can’t do anything. And that’s why you girls are so extraordinary, you’re extraordinary that you do all this stuff.”

The BBC Sport presenter joins the likes of Tom Daley, Jonathan Ross and Alan Carr in taking part in the first series of The Celebrity Traitors

The inaugural series of The Celebrity Traitors hits our screens on Wednesday night, with a star-studded cast taking part in the spin-off of the popular BBC programme.

Following the same format as the regular version, the series will see 19 celebs becoming either ‘Faithfuls’ or, in the case of some, ‘Traitors’. The task for the Traitors is to work together to ‘murder’ their fellow contestants without being detected, while the Faithfuls are charged with successfully identifying and ‘banishing’ the Traitors by voting them out.

The celebrity line-up includes singer-songwriter Cat Burns, telly host Jonathan Ross, actress Celia Imrie and former Olympic diver Tom Daley. However, one contestant who’s been tipped to go the distance and bag the £100,000 charity prize is BBC Sport legend Clare Balding.

Over her 30-year career, the presenter has become one of Britain’s most esteemed broadcasters, having fronted massive sporting events such as the Grand National, Olympic Games and Wimbledon for channels like the BBC and Channel 4.

Balding will be hoping her authority, popularity and affability to take her far in the iconic Traitors castle, while she has grown used to the spotlight being cast over her, and particularly her life away from the cameras. As her stock has risen, particular attention has been paid her personal life, from her relationship with another presenter to her recent weight loss. Here’s what you need to know.

Ex-BBC presenter wife

Balding first met her wife, broadcaster Alice Arnold, in 1999 while they were both working for the BBC. While they were simply good friends at first, they began dating in 2002, after a national newspaper publicly revealed Balding’s sexuality.

The pair entered into a civil partnership in 2006 before getting married in a private ceremony in 2015, following the legalisation of same-sex marriage in the UK. Their marriage was subsequently back-dated to 2006.

Balding has described Arnold, who worked as a newsreader and continuity announcer at BBC Radio 4 for over two decades, as “fiercely loyal” and her “own little guard dog”.

Reflecting on their first meeting, the Wimbledon presenter confessed she was unaware of Arnold’s identity when she first noticed her at a BBC show, but added: “I saw her and thought ‘Oh, she’s really interesting and rather beautiful. We started chatting and she’s very funny. We were friends for at least two years.”

Balding recently spoke more candidly about her relationship with Arnold during an interview with Hello! Magazine, crediting her wife as the inspiration behind her debut novel ‘Pastures New’, which hit shelves in September.

“One of the things I wanted to write about in my novel was about falling in love because I thought ‘I know that’,” she explained. “I know what real, deep love is and meeting someone I want to grow old with. Lucky, lucky me.”

In the same interview, she revealed that she and Arnold are preparing to leave their long-time home in Chiswick as they look to fill the “canine-shaped hole” in their lives by getting a new dog.

“We’re looking to move out of London in the near future, and one of the main reasons for that is to have a bit more space and protection from the road so that it’s a good environment for a dog,” said Balding. “As soon as we’re settled, it’s definitely our plan – probably next spring. I just smile at the thought of having a dog back in our lives.”

On how she and Arnold spend their time together, she spoke about their love of golf, adding: “I’m not as good as Alice, who’s a seven-handicap golfer, but I’m working on getting better”. She also discussed the couple’s travel plans, explaining: “Alice and I are about to go from New York up to Quebec and back again and we’re going to Japan on a cruise next year. We love being on the water and then ending up in a new place.”

Balding’s relationship with Arnold came after she previously dated men, with one of her former partners even proposing to her. However, she turned down the proposal and never regretted the decision, explaining that he went on to “behave appallingly”.

“I had a few boyfriends, not like loads,” she recalled. “But I had one very serious boyfriend for two or three years. He asked me to marry him, and he was in the Army, and he was going off. And I thought, ‘He’s only asking me because he thinks he’s in danger and, according to romantic films, I’m meant to say yes at this point’.

“I knew I didn’t want to. I said, ‘Look, that’s a lovely thing to say but ask me again when you come back’. When he came back he didn’t ask me again, and I thought, ‘Thank God’. I thought, ‘I don’t trust you and I’ll never trust you’ – and funnily enough I was absolutely spot on as his ex-wife told me not that long ago.”

She added: “That relationship ended not very well with him behaving appallingly. I think I was damaged by that, but that doesn’t make you gay. I just think when I first fell in love with a woman, it was completely different.”

Cancer battle

In 2009, Balding revealed she had been diagnosed with thyroid cancer after spotting a lump on her neck while watching herself present on television.

Warning signs of the condition include a lump in the neck, a painful throat and swallowing difficulties that persist, and after heeding her family’s advice to consult a doctor, she was told she had cancer and needed an operation. Balding then underwent surgery to remove a cyst, her thyroid gland and a lymph node, followed by radioactive iodine treatment to halt the disease’s progression.

She later admitted to going through a “dark stage” after her diagnosis, as she feared the potential impacts of her illness on her voice and career. However, she received the all-clear at the end of 2010 and has since seen her career flourish.

During a recent appearance on the Stick to Rugby podcast, she opened up about her diagnosis, recalling: “It was an odd one because I hadn’t noticed feeling any different. I was doing the show jumping at Christmas when it was at Olympia and I recorded an opening link, and I was watching it back on the monitor as we were about to go live.

“I was looking at the mirror and I saw this lump on my neck, a big lump. I thought, ‘Wow, that’s really weird, where has that come from?’ I went home for Christmas and my sister-in-law’s Welsh grandfather was a doctor, and he looked at it. He was still a practising GP and he said that I’d better go to the doctor. He took Alice to one side and said, ‘Make sure she goes’.

“Between Christmas and New Year, when the doctor’s surgery was open, I went and the GP did some tests and he sent me to a specialist. They came back and said, ‘You’ve got thyroid cancer’ and they had to operate.”

Pointing to her neck, she added: “I’ve got a cracking scar there, they had to operate three times. I was most worried about my voice because of where the surgery is. I was thinking, please don’t hit my vocal cords. I came back and was commentating on the tennis for the radio and I couldn’t hit the notes, the vocal cords weren’t meeting properly.

“Anyway, it came back and I was all fine and I got my bass notes back – but that was all I was worried about. I then had radioactive iodine therapy, but that’s all right, because it’s not as bad as chemo.”

Body transformation

Today, Balding is healthier than ever, having shed one-and-a-half stone by eliminating a few food and drink items from her diet.

During her Hello! interview, the 54-year-old revealed that she had embraced a low-carb diet, ditching pasta and bread while also reducing her sugar consumption. She also modified her drinking habits, choosing gin and tonic over red wine.

After overhauling her eating habits, Balding says she not only “feels better” but has gained fresh confidence as she can now wear whatever she wants.

“I’ve worked hard at it and feel better,” she said. “I got into my 50s and thought, ‘I’m just going to be fat and happy’, but then a friend talked about a low-carb diet and the late Michael Mosley publicised this form of weight loss, too, and I thought, I’ll give it one more go – as I’ve tried so many diets over the years – and see if it works. And it did!”

Revealing she no longer eats bread or pasta and as little sugar as possible, she added: “And if I want a drink, I have a gin and tonic instead of wine, so I don’t feel like I’m depriving myself of things.

“I’m never going to be stick thin – that’s just not me. I’ve got massive bones. But I can now put on a pair of trousers with a belt and my shirt tucked in and I went for years without being able to do that. That feels great.”

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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This week, the Trump administration announced that it was taking “bold action” to address the “epidemic” of autism spectrum disorder — starting with a new safety label on Tylenol and other acetaminophen products that suggests a link to autism. The scientific evidence for doing so is weak, researchers said.

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said federal officials “will be uncompromising and relentless in our search for answers” and that they soon would be “closely examining” the role of vaccines, whose alleged link to autism has been widely discredited.

Kennedy has long argued that rising diagnoses among U.S. children must mean more exposure to some outside influence: a drug, a chemical, a toxin, a vaccine.

“One of the things that I think that we need to move away from today is this ideology that … the autism prevalence increase, the relentless increases, are simply artifacts of better diagnoses, better recognition or changing diagnostic criteria,” Kennedy said in April.

Kennedy is correct that autism spectrum disorder rates have risen steadily in the U.S. since the U.S. Centers for Disease Control began tracking them, from 1 in 150 8-year-olds in 2000, to 1 in 31 in 2022, the most recent year for which numbers are available.

But physicians, researchers and psychologists say it is impossible to interpret this increase without acknowledging two essential facts: The diagnostic definition of autism has greatly expanded to include a much broader range of human behaviors, and we look for it more often than we used to.

“People haven’t changed that much,” said Alan Gerber, a pediatric neuropsychologist at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C., “but how we talk about them, how we describe them, how we categorize them has actually changed a lot over the years.”

Defining ‘autism’

The term “autism” first appeared in the scientific literature around World War II, when two psychiatrists in different countries independently chose that word to describe two different groups of children.

In 1938, Austrian pediatrician Hans Asperger used it to describe child patients at his Vienna clinic who were verbal, often fluently so, with unusual social behaviors and at-times obsessive focus on very specific subjects.

Five years later, U.S. psychiatrist Leo Kanner published a paper about a group of children at his clinic at the Johns Hopkins Hospital in Baltimore who were socially withdrawn, rigid in their thinking and extremely sensitive to stimuli like bright lights or loud noises. Most also had limited verbal language ability.

Both Asperger and Kanner chose the same word to describe these overlapping behaviors: autism. (They borrowed the term from an earlier psychiatrist’s description of extreme social withdrawal in schizophrenic patients.)

This doesn’t mean children never acted this way before. It was just the first time doctors started using that word to describe a particular set of child behaviors.

For the next few decades, many children who exhibited what we understand today to be autistic traits were labeled as having conditions that have ceased to exist as formal diagnoses, like “mental retardation,” “childhood psychosis” or “schizophrenia, childhood type.”

Autism debuted as its own diagnosis in the 1980 third edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, the American Psychiatric Assn.’s diagnostic bible. It described an autistic child as one who, by the age of 2½, showed impaired communication, unusual responses to their environment and a lack of interest in other people.

As the decades went on, the DSM definition of autism broadened.

The fourth edition, published in 1994, named additional behaviors: impaired relationships, struggles with nonverbal communication and speech patterns different from those of non-autistic, or neurotypical, peers.

It also included a typo that would turn out to be a crucial driver of diagnoses, wrote cultural anthropologist Roy Richard Grinker in his book “Unstrange Minds: Remapping the World of Autism.”

The DSM’s printed definition of autism included any child who displayed impairments in social interaction, communication “or” behavior. It was supposed to say social interaction, communication “and” behavior.

The error went uncorrected for six years, and the impact appeared profound. In 1995 an estimated 1 in every 500 children was diagnosed with autism. By 2000, when the CDC formally began tracking diagnoses (and the text was corrected), it was 1 in every 150.

Reaching underserved communities

In 2007, the American Academy of Pediatrics recommended for the first time that all children be screened for autism between the ages of 18 and 24 months as part of their regular checkups. Prior to that, autism was diagnosed somewhat haphazardly. Not all pediatricians were familiar with the earliest indicators or used the same criteria to determine whether a child should be further evaluated.

Then in 2013, the fifth edition of the DSM took what had previously been four separate conditions — autistic disorder, Asperger’s disorder, childhood disintegrative disorder and pervasive developmental disorder — and collapsed them all into a single diagnosis: autism spectrum disorder.

The diagnostic criteria for ASD included a broad range of social, communication and sensory interpretation differences that, crucially, could be identified at any time in a child’s life. The term was no longer limited only to children whose development lagged noticeably behind that of their peers.

Since that definition was adopted, U.S. schools have become more proactive about referring a greater range of children for neurodevelopmental evaluations. The new DSM language also helped educators and clinicians better understand what was keeping some kids in disadvantaged communities from thriving.

“In the past, [autism was] referred to as a ‘white child’s disability,’ because you found so few Black and brown children being identified,” said Shanter Alexander, an assistant professor of school psychology at Howard University. Children of color who struggled with things like behavioral disruptions, attention deficits or language delays, she said, were often diagnosed with intellectual disabilities or behavioral disorders.

In a sign that things have shifted, the most recent CDC survey for the first time found a higher prevalence of autism in kids of color than in white children: 3.66%, 3.82% and 3.30% for Black, Asian and Latino children, respectively, compared with 2.77% of white children.

“A lot of people think, ‘Oh, no, what does this mean? This is terrible.’ But it’s actually really positive. It means that we have been better at diagnosing Latino children [and] other groups too,” said Kristina Lopez, an associate professor at Arizona State University who studies autism in underserved communities.

The severity issue

An autism diagnosis today can apply to people who are able to graduate from college, hold professional positions and speak eloquently about their autism, as well as people who require 24-hour care and are not able to speak at all.

It includes people who were diagnosed when they were toddlers developing at a noticeably different pace from their peers, and people who embraced a diagnosis of autism in adulthood as the best description of how they relate to the world. Diagnoses for U.S. adults ages 26 to 34 alone increased by 450% between 2011 and 2022, according to one large study published last year in the Journal of the American Medical Assn.

Kennedy was not correct when he said in April that “most cases now are severe.”

A 2016 review of CDC data found that approximately 26.7% of 8-year-olds with autism had what some advocates refer to as “profound autism,” the end of the spectrum that often includes seriously disabling behaviors such as seizures, self-injurious behavior and intellectual disability.

The rate of children with profound autism has remained virtually unchanged since the CDC started tracking it, said Maureen Durkin, a professor of population health science and pediatrics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Indeed, the highest rate of new diagnoses has been among children with mild limitations, she said.

For many researchers and advocates, the Trump administration’s focus on autism has provoked mixed emotions. Many have lobbied for years for more attention for this condition and the people whose lives it affects.

Now it has arrived, thanks to an administration that has played up false information while cutting support for science.

“They have attempted to panic the public with the notion of an autism epidemic as a threat to the nation, when no such epidemic actually exists — rather, more people are being diagnosed with autism today because we have broader diagnostic criteria and do a better job detecting it,” said Colin Killick, executive director of the Autistic Self Advocacy Network. “It is high time that this administration stops spreading misinformation about autism, and starts enacting policies that would actually benefit our community.”

This article was reported with the support of the USC Annenberg Center for Health Journalism’s National Fellowship’s Kristy Hammam Fund for Health Journalism.

Borg won 66 singles titles, spent 109 weeks as world number one and claimed a record 41 successive wins at Wimbledon.

His retirement at 25 – a time when tennis players are starting to peak – was a shock.

“I had enough. I lost the interest and the motivation,” he said.

“If I knew what was going to happen in the years after, I would continue to play tennis.”

In his autobiography, Heartbeats: A Memoir, co-written with his wife Patricia, the notoriously private Borg speaks about his post-playing career struggles.

“I had no plan. People today, they have guidance. I was lost in the world,” he said.

“There was more drugs, there was pills, alcohol, to escape myself from reality.

“I didn’t have to think about it. Of course it’s not good, it destroys you as a person.”

Borg was hospitalised after an overdose, external in Milan in 1989 – an incident which made him reassess retirement.

He returned to the tennis tour from 1991 to 1993 but failed to win a single match.

“I was close to dying many times,” Borg added.

“I fixed my life. I’m very happy with myself.”

The Kit Kat Club is closing its Broadway doors early on Sept. 21, as current “Emcee” Billy Porter battles a “serious case of sepsis,” according to the production team.

“It is with a heavy heart that we have made the painful decision to end our Broadway run,” said producer Adam Speers in a statement. “On behalf of all the producers, we’re so honored to have been able to bring this version of John Kander, Fred Ebb, and Joe Masteroff’s important masterpiece, ‘Cabaret,’ to New York and to have opened the doors to our own Kit Kat Club for the year and a half we have been here.”

“Cabaret at the Kit Kat Club” — as this revival is titled — opened on Broadway in April 2024, with Eddie Redmayne and Gayle Rankin in the lead roles. Following their September 2024 departure, duos Adam Lambert and Auli’i Cravalho, and Orville Peck and Eva Noblezada played the titular roles.

Porter stepped into the role of the Emcee, alongside co-star Marisha Wallace as Sally Bowles, in July. The duo was expected to lead the production’s final 13 weeks — originally scheduled to end on Oct. 19 — before Porter’s illness sidelined him.

“Billy was an extraordinary ‘Emcee,’ bringing his signature passion and remarkable talent,” said Speers. “We wish Billy a speedy recovery, and I look forward to working with him again in the very near future.”

As of Sept. 21, the production will have played 18 preview performances and 592 regular performances. Marty Lauter and David Merino, the production’s longtime alternates for Emcee, will share the role for the final two weeks of performances. Their exact performance schedules — opposite Wallace as Bowles — are forthcoming.

DAVINA McCall’s dating show has proven life-changing for one bride after it unlocked a hidden disorder. 

Gorgeous Millie Thompson, 30, has been diagnosed with autism and ADHD after taking part on Stranded on Honeymoon Island having realised her OCD was so intense she considered smuggling in a pair of socks. 

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One of the DJ and model’s quirks was she cannot bear to be barefoot, so she thought about sewing a secret set into her wedding dress. 

The BBC show sees singles marooned on a deserted beach in only their wedding attire. 

Millie told The Sun: “Coming back from the show, I ended up getting tested for ADHD and autism and I found out I have both. 

“I have learnt so much about myself, someone described it as being ‘neuro spicy’ and I love that for me.

“It’s lifechanging really.

“I always knew things like I couldn’t be without a pair of socks, I always have to be wearing a pair, but being on the show made everything clear. 

“This sounds crazy but I was contemplating sewing some socks into the boob bit of my wedding dress, I was like ‘can I smuggle in some socks?!’ but then I was like, no they’ll be disgusting. 

“Now I know that’s why I am how I am. 

“I’ve changed so much from it but in such a good, positive way and everyone has noticed.”

Millie was so conscious of being without her comforts, she had her wedding dress custom made with the experience in mind. 

She included a bodysuit she could wear like a onesie, and a skirt she could detach and use as a mosquito net. 

Millie, from Cheshire, added: “I am such a girly girl, I was combing my hair extensions with a fork. 

“But the experience makes you strip everything back and I thought I’d struggle because I’m so OCD but I actually coped really well.”

Viewers saw her struggle with the show’s dramatic jump into the sea that kicks off their stranded experience. 

“With Love Island there’s other couples and you can escape, but there’s nothing like Stranded for this, you’ve just got each other.”

Millie Thompson

After meeting at the altar, the couples then take a boat out to their deserted beach and then plummet into the sea ahead of a swim to land. 

But poor Millie can’t swim and she had to fit a life vest over her gorgeous wedding dress. 

She said: “That was a massive thing for me because I literally will not get in the water, I can put my feet in but that’s it, so to have to do that was massive.”

But she reckons being out of her comfort zone kickstarted a connection with her groom Jordan in a way that could never happen on Love Island.

While she can’t give away what happens on her journey, Milile added: “You are on a beach with absolutely nothing, you are relying on each other for everything.

“With Love Island there’s other couples and you can escape, but there’s nothing like Stranded for this, you’ve just got each other.”

Stranded on Honeymoon Island continues on BBC One tonight at 9pm, then returns next week on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. 

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The first episodes are already available to stream on BBC iPlayer.

A BRAINWAVE test could detect early signs of Alzheimer’s disease in just three minutes – years before clinical diagnosis would even be possible.

Researchers say the test, nicknamed ‘Fastball’, could even be used at home and serve as a cheap tool for those who struggle to get a diagnosis.

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Fastball measures patients’ brain waves through the use of a headset that uses electroencephalogram (EEG) technology.

It records the brain’s automatic response to a series of flashing images displayed on a screen.

Its inventors, from the universities of Bristol and Bath, say it can detect subtle changes to brain waves during the very early stages of dementia.

A £1.5million funding boost from the government will allow it to be tested on 1,000 patients in Bristol to find out if it can be used for mass screening.

Researchers hope the test could slash five years off the average age of diagnosis.

Dementia is often diagnosed too late, they said, up to 20 years after it has started to develop and when it’s already damaged the brain beyond repair.

Currently, diagnosis relies on tests to assess people’s memory, which researchers have previously said can be limited and may be impacted by a person’s education, language skills and whether or not they’re nervous.

They claimed Fastball swerves these issues as the test assesses patients ‘passively’, without requiring participants to follow instructions or recall information.

Dr Liz Coulthard, from the University of Bristol, said: “Patients can wait a long time for diagnosis and some of our current tests can be inaccurate and stressful for them. 

“A quick, easy-to-administer memory test, like Fastball, could transform that.”

A new study, led by experts from the universities of Bath and Bristol and published in the journal Brain Communications, included 52 patients with mild cognitive impairment (MCI) and 54 healthy older adults.

MCI refers to a decline in memory and thinking. Not all cases progress to Alzheimer’s disease, but it can be an early sign and risk factor for the condition.

As well as the Fastball test, patients on the trial also completed a number of neuropsychological assessments that tested their memory, their ability to pay attention and general cognitive function.

Researchers found Fastball could reliably identify memory problems in people with MCI.

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Patients with amnestic MCI – which involves significant memory loss, such as forgetting appointments and recent conversations – showed significantly reduced responses to the Fastball test compared to healthy patients and those with non-amnestic MCI.

Researchers re-tested the group after one year and found Fastball “showed moderate to good test-retest reliability” in healthy older adults.

The study also demonstrated for the first time that the test can be performed in patients’ homes.

Researchers now say the Fastball could also be used in GP surgeries and memory clinics to speed up diagnoses.

Lead author Dr George Stothart, a cognitive neuroscientist in the Department of Psychology at the University of Bath, said: “We’re missing the first 10 to 20 years of Alzheimer’s with current diagnostic tools.

“Fastball offers a way to change that – detecting memory decline far earlier and more objectively, using a quick and passive test.”

Alzheimer’s Society estimates there are around 982,000 people with dementia in the UK, but more than a third do not have a diagnosis.

The number is expected to rise to 1.4 million by 2040.

Dr Stothart added: “There’s an urgent need for accurate, practical tools to diagnose Alzheimer’s at scale. Fastball is cheap, portable and works in real-world settings.”

Chris Williams, chief executive of BRACE Dementia Research, which supported the study, said: “Fastball is an incredible tool that could offer anyone who, for whatever reason, cannot access a dementia diagnosis in a clinical setting.”

Reacting to the findings, Sir John Hardy, professor of neuroscience and group leader at the UK Dementia Research Institute at UCL, said: “Identifying individuals early for cognitive decline is going to be of increasing importance as therapies for Alzheimer’s and other dementias are developed and this protocol Fastball seems as if it may be helpful in this regard.

“What it does not do, and does not claim to do, is distinguish early Alzheimer’s from other causes of decline and this latter is also important.

“Because of this, it is likely that additional tests, biomarker or imaging, would also be needed for this second important aim.”

Dr Julia Dudley, head of research at Alzheimer’s Research UK, added: “Too many families face dementia without answers, with one in three people with the condition living without a diagnosis.

“Therefore it’s encouraging to see studies exploring potential ways to detect memory problems earlier.

“This study, in a small group of people, suggests that it can be used to measure mild memory impairment, which for some people can be an early sign of diseases like Alzheimer’s.

“However, as participants were only followed up one year later, we don’t know if those people will definitely go on to develop dementia.

“Longer-term studies in larger, diverse groups of people are needed to find out if this technology can predict how memory problems will unfold over time.”

Barriers to diagnosis

The trial results come as a new report by the Alzheimer’s Society warned that one in five people impacted by dementia receive no support.

A survey, carried out for the charity by Walnut Unlimited, included almost 3,500 impacted by dementia, such as patients, loved ones and unpaid carers.

Just a third said their experience of diagnosis was positive, while 52 per cent faced long wait times and 41 per cent had to see multiple healthcare staff.

Professor Fiona Carragher, chief policy and research officer at Alzheimer’s Society, said: “Almost a million people are living with dementia, yet its scale and the day-to-day realities often remain hidden.

“These findings tell us that far too many people are going without the help they need, whether it’s support after a diagnosis, trained care professionals, or someone to turn to when things get hard.”

The charity also found more than a third (35 per cent) of people living with dementia are scared of getting diagnosed, while 31 per cent are apprehensive about talking to healthcare professionals.

Professor Carragher said: “An early and accurate diagnosis is vital to enable people living with dementia to access the care, support and treatments they so desperately need.

“Those who have been able to access these treatments experienced benefits, but we simply aren’t diagnosing people early or accurately enough to see current and prospective treatments rolled out widely.”

Gordon Ramsay has a message for you this holiday weekend: wear sunscreen.

The Michelin-starred celebrity chef posted Saturday on Instagram that he was diagnosed with skin cancer and had the basal cell carcinoma removed from the side of his face.

Ramsay shared two photos, one of a bandage stretching from his cheek to his neck. Another, a close-up, showed stitch marks directly below his earlobe.

“Grateful and so appreciative for the incredible team at The Skin Associates and their fast reactive work on removing this Basal Cell Carcinoma thank you! Please don’t forget your sunscreen this weekend,” Ramsay wrote in the caption.

His post was not without humor: “I promise you it’s not a face lift! I’d need a refund …” he said.

Ramsay — the host, most recently, of the reality TV show “Hell’s Kitchen” — has not been shy about sharing his health issues on social media, as well as offering cautionary advice to his followers. Last year he posted a video on Instagram after he was in a bicycle accident in Connecticut. In the video, the Scottish-born restaurateur lifted his white chef coat and pointed to expansive bruising on his torso. He urged his followers to “WEAR A HELMET.”

Skin cancers are among the most common cancers diagnosed worldwide, according to the World Health Organization’s International Agency for Research on Cancer. More than 1.5 million new cases were estimated in 2022.

Basal cell carcinoma in particular, which Ramsay was diagnosed with, is a type of non-melanoma skin cancer and the most common overall, says Elizabeth Bahar Houshmand, a double board certified dermatologist based in Dallas.

“But the good news,” Houshmand says, “is there’s a less than 1% chance of metastasis, meaning it would spread to other organs, regions. But it is a skin cancer and needs to be addressed promptly. Usually the treatment is surgical excision and that’s what Gordon Ramsay had done.”

Early detection of basal cell carcinoma, Houshmand says, is key. As are preventative measures, such as wearing sunscreen and SPF clothing.

“It’s generally slow-growing and rarely spreads to other parts of the body, and with early detection and treatment the cure rate is very high,” she says. “Always see your dermatologist if you see an irregularity that’s not going away. Don’t wait. And protect yourself — I like an SPF of 50 or greater and apply it 15 minutes before going outside.”

So if you fire up the grill this weekend — even attempting one of Ramsay’s barbecue favorites — still, make sunscreen the main course.

Nine-time Grand Slam champion Monica Seles has revealed she was diagnosed with myasthenia gravis – a neuromuscular autoimmune disease – three years ago.

The 51-year-old has chosen to go public with the rare long-term condition, which causes muscle weakness, to raise awareness before this month’s US Open.

Seles first noticed symptoms of the condition, which can affect most parts of the body – including the muscles that control the eyes, around five years ago.

“I would be playing [tennis] with some kids or family members, and I would miss a ball,” former world number one Seles told The Associated Press.

“I was like, ‘Yeah, I see two balls.’ These are obviously symptoms that you can’t ignore.

“It took me quite some time to really absorb it, speak openly about it, because it’s a difficult one. It affects my day-to-day life quite a lot.”

Seles decided to reveal her condition in the hope of using her platform to educate people about the disease, for which there is currently no cure.

The American won eight major titles by the age of 19, after capturing her first aged 16 at the 1990 French Open.

But she won just one more after she was stabbed with a knife by a fan during a match in Hamburg in 1993 and took time away from the sport to recover.

Seles played her last match in 2003 having won 53 tournaments and spent 178 weeks at number one.

Greg Papa, the legendary sports radio voice in the Bay Area, is stepping away from his broadcasting duties while undergoing treatment for cancer, he announced Friday.

Papa, the radio voice of the San Francisco 49ers and a longtime host on KNBR (680 AM), did not specify the type of cancer he is battling in a statement released by the radio station but said he expects a full recovery.

“As I fully focus on my treatment and work toward a full recovery, I’m stepping away from my broadcasts but look forward to returning soon,” Papa said. “Thanks to everyone for your prayers and good wishes as I begin this fight.”

Papa, 62, began his career doing radio play-by-play for the Indiana Pacers in 1984 but launched a decades-long career in the Bay Area when hired by the Golden State Warriors in 1986.

He transitioned to television in the ‘90s, calling games for the San Antonio Spurs. He also called baseball games on TV, beginning with the Oakland Athletics before jumping to the San Francisco Giants in the mid-2000s.

When play-by-play announcer Dave Flemming’s microphone went dead for 10 seconds after Barry Bonds hit his 715th career home run to pass Babe Ruth on the all-time list in 2006, Papa took over the broadcast and explained what had transpired.

“To lose a mic like that, I’ve never seen it,” Papa said. “I’ve never been a part of something like this.”

Flemming was distraught but took it in stride with Papa’s help.

“I think it’s the last gasp of the curse of the Bambino,” Flemming joked. “Now, I’m starting to rethink my whole world.”

Papa’s coworkers rallied to support him when the diagnosis was announced.

“Greg is not just our teammate at The Sports Leader, he’s one of the most iconic play-by-play men in the history of our beloved Bay Area,” said Brian Murphy, the popular longtime KNBR talk show host. “Nobody else has done the Warriors, Raiders, Giants, A’s and 49ers like Greg, so he has every Northern California fan base rooting hard for him to come out healthy and get back behind the mic.”

Papa, a three-time winner of the California sportscaster of the year award, has been the radio play-by-play announcer for the San Francisco 49ers since the 2019 season. His contract with the 49ers extends through the 2028 season.

“The 49ers family extends our unwavering love and support to Greg Papa and his family following his recent cancer diagnosis,” the 49ers said in a statement. “We wish him a speedy recovery and look forward to welcoming him back to the radio booth as the ‘voice of the 49ers’ whenever he is ready.”

As Justin Timberlake bid farewell to his Forget Tomorrow world tour, he got candid with fans about his health.

The “Mirrors” and “SexyBack” pop star, 44, on Thursday revealed in a heartfelt Instagram post that he powered through his circuit of live performances as he battled a “relentlessly debilitating” bout of Lyme disease. The singer, who faced backlash for his low-energy performances in recent weeks, said in his lengthy caption that sharing his health issues was to help him “shed some light on what I’ve been up against behind the scenes.”

The Grammy-winning singer and actor went in depth about the disease’s mental and physical toll. Although he said he was “shocked” by the diagnosis, he said it provided some clarity.

“At least I could understand why I would be onstage and in a massive amount of nerve pain or, just feeling crazy fatigue or sickness,” he continued. “I was faced with a personal decision. Stop touring? Or, keep going and figure it out.”

The Mayo Clinic defines Lyme disease as an illness “caused by borrelia bacteria” that humans can get if they are bitten by an infected tick. Symptoms of Lyme disease can include joint stiffness, muscle aches and pains, fever and headache. Antibiotics are used to treat the disease.

Timberlake, amid the “fleeting stress my body was feeling,” said he opted to continue with his tour. “I’m so glad I kept going,” he said.

Pushing through with the tour, which began in April 2024 in Vancouver and ended Wednesday in Turkey, allowed Timberlake to prove his “mental tenacity,” he said. The singer said he would also work to be “more transparent about my struggles” with fans.

Throughout his tour, Timberlake faced a handful of personal and public obstacles. In October 2024, he announced the postponement of several shows to recover from bronchitis and laryngitis. That same month, he also abruptly called off a concert in Newark, N.J., because of an injury.

Notably, the former ‘NSYNC frontman carried on with his slate of shows last year after his DWI arrest in the Hamptons in June 2024. He pleaded guilty to a lesser charge of impaired driving, his driving privileges were suspended and he was sentenced in September to 25 hours of community service at a nonprofit of his choosing. He was also required to make a public safety announcement about the dangers of impaired driving.

After sharing his health update, Timberlake reminisced on his touring experience, continuing his post in his own comments section. He thanked supporters for their “energy and love” and the crew and artists who joined him on the road. Though performing live is “sacred” to the “Suit & Tie” music star, he said the status of his stage career remains unclear.

“I honestly don’t know what my future is onstage but I’ll always cherish this run! And all of them before,” he wrote. “It’s been the stuff of LEGEND for me.”

He ended his post sending love to his actor wife Jessica Biel and their two children. His caption accompanied a carousel of behind-the-scenes photos.

Former Times staff writer Nardine Saad contributed to this report.

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.