Foster

THE partner of Little Mix star Jesy Nelson has spoken out after she shared a devastating health diagnosis over the couple’s baby twins.

Zion Foster delivered a touching message to his baby daughters after partner Jesy’s emotional video revealing the seven-month-old girls were suffering from a rare and potentially deadly type of Spinal Muscular Atrophy.

Taking to his Instagram page, Zion shared a photo of his daughters in what looked a stroller.

With tubes attached to their noses, the two tots could still be smiling widely.

Alongside the photo, Zion wrote: “Still smiling through all the challenges.

“Daddy loves you so much.”

SPOT THE SIGNS

The six ‘red flag’ signs of SMA as Jesy Nelson reveals baby twins’ diagnosis

STAR’S HEARTACHE

Little Mix’s Jesy Nelson reveals her baby twins’ devastating diagnosis

Jesy welcomed twins Ocean Jade and Story Monroe prematurely at 31 weeks on May 15, 2025.

In a video she shared on Sunday, the former Little Mix star broke down as she described how the devastating diagnosis emerged.

The twins, she said, had now been diagnosed with a condition called SMA Type 1, or Werdnig-Hoffmann disease, the most severe form of Spinal Muscular Atrophy.

The lifelong disabling condition causes dramatic muscle weakness with severe breathing and swallowing issues and is commonly fatal without radical treatment.

Tearful Jesy said: “If it’s not treated in time, your baby’s life expectancy will not make it past the age of two.”

She later added: “When they assessed the girls at Great Ormond Street, we were told that they will probably never be able to walk.

“They probably will never regain their neck strength, so they will be disabled.

“So the best thing we can do right now is get them treatment and just hope for the best.”

Jesy then revealed that the girls, now seven and a half months old, have had their treatment, which she is “so grateful for, because if they don’t have it, they will die”.

Though Jesy was upset, she felt hopeful for the future.

“I truly believe that my girls will defy all odds. And with the right help, they will fight this, and go on to do things that have never been done,” she said.

The singer said that she wanted to make the video because if the disease is detected early enough in the first few months of a baby’s life “a lot of this stuff could be prevented”.

Jesy explained how the treatment is where the gene, that they don’t have, is put back in the body.

But Jesy affirmed how “there is no cure for SMA” but added how the treatment can help.

She then detailed some of the symptoms to look out for in babies, such as “floppiness” and not being able to hold their head up on their own.

“If any one is watching this video and they think they see these signs in their child, then please, please take your child to doctor, to the hospital, because time is of the essence.”

Lyle Foster’s match-winning 79th-minute strike allowed South Africa to win first opening match at AFCON since 2004.

Lyle Foster scored a superb winner from outside the box as South Africa defeated Angola 2-1 in Africa Cup of Nations Group B in Marrakesh on Monday, the first time they have won their opening match ⁠at the continental finals in 21 years.

South Africa also had a goal disallowed and struck the crossbar, ​just about deserving the nervy victory. Angola also had chances and will ‍be disappointed not to have gotten something from the game.

South Africa took the lead on 21 minutes when Oswin Appollis showed neat footwork in the box to work a shooting chance and put the ball in the bottom ‍corner. But Angola ⁠equalised before the break as Show got a touch to Fredy’s free kick to steer the ball into the net.

The winning moment came after 79 minutes, when Foster was teed up 20 yards out and curled his shot into the top corner to give the bronze medallists from two years ago a positive start to their campaign.

It was a workmanlike performance from South Africa, who do not have the plethora of players in top ​European leagues that their tournament rivals enjoy, with Foster their only one ‌at Premier League Burnley.

But they are a well-oiled machine under Belgian coach Hugo Broos and did enough for a victory that set them well on course for the knockout rounds. Egypt and Zimbabwe will meet later on Monday in ‌the same pool.

Even first half

South Africa took the lead after a period of sustained possession that led to Khuliso Mudau’s cross, which was ‌touched by both Sipho Mbule and Foster before Appollis beat two ⁠defenders and side-footed into the bottom corner of the net.

Angola equalised on 35 minutes when Fredy’s low free kick was touched into the bottom corner by Show, his second goal in his 50th cap for his country, to make it ‌1-1 at the break.

South Africa thought they had retaken the lead when halftime substitute Tshepang Moremi turned his defender and fired low into the bottom corner of the net, but a VAR review showed ‍that Foster was offside in the buildup.

South Africa’s Mbekezeli Mbokazi crashed the ball against the crossbar with a rasping shot from 35 yards, before Foster’s clinical strike secured all three points.

Zambia rally to draw with Mali

In an earlier Group A match on Monday, Zambia’s Patson Daka scored with a spectacular diving header in stoppage time to see his ‍side come from behind ‍and force a 1-1 draw with Mali in Casablanca.

Mali looked in control for most of the encounter, but paid the price for sitting back in the closing stages as Zambia staged a ⁠late recovery, with Daka leaping through the air to force home Mathews Banda’s curling cross two minutes into ​stoppage time at the end of the game.

Lassine Sinayoko had ‌taken advantage of sloppy defending to give ‌Mali a 62nd-minute lead ⁠after his strike partner, El Bilal Toure, had a first-half penalty saved.