Health

The Glenner Town Square will open in 2018 as an immersive experience for adults with dementia and Alzheimer's to help them discuss the past and have a better quality of life through reminiscence therapy. Reminiscence therapy helps patients by discussing past events and experiences and has been shown to give patients a better quality of life and improve their cognitive functions like memory, reasoning and attention. The imitation town square (pictured bottom right as an artist’s impression, top right in construction and main, the completed town hall) will be in a warehouse in a San Diego suburb and will be the first of its kind in the US, though there are other similar care centers around the world. There will be a movie theater showing films, a pet store with real animals form the local rescue society, a beauty salon for patients to get their nails done and even a real 1959 Thunderbird (inset) for them to tinker with.

A young boy from India has undergone successful surgery to correct a condition which saw him possess the world's largest head. Mrityunjay Das, who is just seven months old and suffers from hydrocephalus, was relieved of nearly four litres of fluid, which inflated his face to the size of a watermelon. As a result, the diameter of the youngster's head has been reduced by 26 cm - from 96cm to 70cm - over six weeks of treatment.

A young girl's medical journey has become an internet sensation - after medical trials cured her rare form of epilepsy. Grace Hall, from Devon, started suffering sudden seizures when she was just a few months old. To highlight the little-known condition, West Syndrome, her parents captured the fits in a series of disturbing videos that have now amassed more than 2 million views.

Dramatic new photographs have illustrated the plight of children suffering from a common form of pediatric cancer. The three snapshots, taken in India this week, offer graphic insight into the pain of Wilms Tumours, which are a rare form of growths that target the kidneys. 

It is a condition that's typically associated with the elderly. But mum-of-two Carla Brammall has become one of the UK's youngest Alzheimer's patients - after being diagnosed with a rare mutation of the disease aged 36. Speaking out in support of Alzheimer's Research UK, the former court worker, from Northampton, first began showing the symptoms when she was just thirty and is now wheelchair bound.

Sydney Groves’ bowel was protruding from her stomach and had to be wrapped in Clingfilm and gradually drawn back in, before being stitched up. It was days before the baby from Essex could go to the toilet, and weeks before she could eat, due to her condition: gastroschisis.

A terminally ill mum from Croydon is pleading for a cancer drug to remain free on the NHS so she can live long enough to see her son start school.  Bonnie Fox, 39, was diagnosed with secondary cancer in July 2015, just four months after her child Barnaby was born. When the two drugs she is currently on to treat her breast, bone and liver cancer stop working, the only strong medication she would be able to use is Kadcyla - costing £90,000 per patient. But the NHS has argued the medicine isn't cost-effective. 

When Sheryl Newman-Overton went to her gynecologist in July 2015 with a bloated and swollen stomach, she was told it was nothing to worry about. However, five months later, the mother-of-six and grandmother-of-18 was diagnosed with Stage IV ovarian cancer. Sheryl, a U.S. Army soldier from Tampa, Florida, suspected something was wrong, even though she had never discussed cancer symptoms with her gynecologist. But after voicing her concerns, only to be told it was nothing, the 54-year-old felt reassured. Now, she has a 17 percent chance of living to 59. Pictured: In hospital (left) and with six of her grandchildren (right) since being diagnosed. 

A Nottingham woman has been forced to defend her husband-to-be - after a mystery illness starting causing inexplicable bruising on her face. Adele Uden, 26, first began to suffer from problems after her seven-year-old son, Zak, was born via emergency caesarean section in 2010. Since then, she has been left distraught by the unfounded rumours, which she says have worsened her as-yet undiagnosed condition. 

Madison Gatlin, from Crestview in Florida, was born with CLOVES, a condition that causes lymphatic fluid to swell beneath her arms and chest. The ultra-rare illness, caused by a gene mutation, affects only 200 people worldwide.

A transgender teen, who knew she was in the wrong body at the age of seven, is finally the girl she'd always wanted to be – and is planning £60,000 of surgery to look more feminine. Kate Cooch, 18, Staffordshire, although born a boy called Callum, (pictured left aged 14) had longed to be a girl since primary school - and has finally realised her dream (pictured right and inset after her transition). She now hopes to have a number of operations to complete her look, including a tracheal shave, reassignment surgery, facial feminisation surgery, a chin reduction, rhinoplasty, brow bone shave and mini eyebrow lift.

A father's dying message has gone viral - after revealing he's selling video games to help finance towering medical bills which have 'crushed' his family. Christopher L King, a video games journalist from Danielsville in Pennsylvania, is battling terminal cancer and shared details of his struggle with non-Hodgkin's lymphoma via social media site Imgur on 2 January. The 27 year-old, who has two children, Destiny and Austin, has now become the focus of global attention after highlighting the human impact of US healthcare.

Body builder Alexis Mercer, 23, from Effingham, Georgia was diagnosed with Stage 1 Hodgkin's lymphoma in July. A cancer that affects white blood cells, she was told she would have to undergo 12 rounds of chemotherapy. Despite the tiredness and sickness she felt, Mercer decided to stick with her workouts with a positive attitude and prove that if she could do it, then anybody could.

The parents of fragile newborn twins have revealed how bubble wrap and a sandwich bag saved their children's lives.  Lewis and Logan Donnelly, from Bellshill, North Lanarkshire, weighed just 3lb 2oz combined when they were born 25 weeks into their pregnancy in February 2015.

A third of Britons make a New Year's resolution, but almost half fall by the wayside come February. Mail on Sunday reporter Sara Malm found out how a new self-help book can help you strengthen your resolve. Already a bestseller in America and now out in the UK, Small Move, Big Change, by Caroline Arnold, explains how to make ‘micro-resolutions’

With more than 100,000 people aged 100 or over, Spain is the country with the greatest life expectancy after Japan, OECD data and the latest population census shows. Over a year, Reuters photographer Andrea Comas interviewed and photographed Spaniards aged 100 or more across the country from the green-hilled northern region of Asturias to the Balearic island of Menorca. Average life expectancy at birth in Spain is 83.2, according to the latest OECD statistics made available in 2013, just a shade below the 83.4 years on average a Japanese newborn can expect to live.

For most young married couples, getting ready for their first child is exciting. But for Courtney and Josh Hayes the experience is tinged with mourning and fear. The pair have suffered four miscarriages in just two years - both natural conceptions and IVF.  Now, weeks away from finally welcoming their first son, they have received the devastating news that he has a debilitating heart condition, truncus arteriosus. It means he will initially suffer from heart failure, which manifest as rapid breathing, poor feeding and failure to gain weight and grow properly. Without surgery, damage of the blood vessels of the lung could life-threateningly restrict blood flow. To give him the best chance at survival, Courtney and Josh have to relocate from Arizona to Philadelphia, home to some of the nation's top fetal heart surgeons, to begin care eight weeks ahead of the birth. And the wait is agonizing.

We're led to believe a small blue pill can cure erectile dysfunction. But for thousands of cancer survivors or wounded soldiers, it doesn't always work. So far alternatives have been rudimentary - an inflatable pump that is difficult to implant and awkward to use, or a malleable device that leaves the patient with a permanent erection.

Guatemalan model Melanie Montenegro (pictured), 22, had travelled to the city of Guayaquil to undergo liposuction in a clinic owned by a surgeon named Dr Felipe. The next day, according to police, she suffered a heart attack while undergoing surgery, and died, and the surgeon has now vanished.

Rachel Park, 39, from Whitehaven, in Cumbria, has died just one week after celebrating bringing her premature triplets home for Christmas. She passed away in the early hours of Tuesday at her home. Just two days earlier Mrs Park and her husband Steven, 37, had spent their first Christmas at home with their daughters after they had finally been allowed out of hospital having been born 26 weeks early. In an interview last week, the couple said the three girls, Poppie, Molly and Evelyn, were the 'only presents' they wanted for Christmas. Mr Park, a chef, broke the tragic news of his wife's death on social media.

We all take for granted the ability to move our fingers. But for Marine sergeant John Peck, watching his left hand wiggle ever so slightly was the best Christmas present imaginable. It is barely over four months since the 31-year-old received a double arm transplant, having lost all four limbs to an IED while serving in Afghanistan in 2010. The procedure performed at Boston's Brigham and Women's Hospital was incredibly complicated, with doctors trying their best to wire together Peck's nerves with the donor's. And now, in a heart-melting video, Peck has shared the moment he giggled and squealed watching his left-hand fingers move on Christmas.

Bluebell Cousens, from Jersey, was born with hip dysplasia - a congenital condition which caused her problems moving the joint. She was placed in a brace (inset) for eight weeks after being born to help put her hip back into place. Her mother, Sophie, 36, (pictured together left) decided to film the different stages of her development to look back on in the future. Starting when she was four months old, Ms Cousens recorded her for half an hour every four weeks. She kept recording until she was able to walk across the screen when she was 11 months (right) before producing the video.

Lily Tock (left with her father, Paul), from Brough, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, has not eaten since January as a result of her gastroparesis. The condition has caused her to suffer from dizziness, nausea and severe stomach pains for the past two years. She is forced to rely on tubes in her heart and small intestine (right and inset) to feed her essential fats and oils, as well as vitamins her body cannot absorb. If she did choose to eat normally, it would cause her to spend days in bed throwing up or potentially a life-threatening bezoar - a blockage in the digestive tract.

Within the space of two years, Wilf and George (pictured right: Wilf, George, Sir David Frost and Miles), the sons of Sir David Frost lost not only their famous father — who died unexpectedly while away in 2013 — but their brother, too. Handsome, successful and physically fit, Miles, the eldest son of broadcaster Sir David (together left) and Lady Carina Frost, collapsed and died last year, aged 31. He had a heart complaint - hypertrophic cardiomyopathy - a condition in which the heart thickens and is prone to beating irregularly.

Connie Johnson, the sister of Australian actor Samuel Johnson (left of inset), has terminal breast cancer. Ms Johnson recently penned a moving post about her struggle with the disease and explained why it can be difficult to see the bright side of things. Ms Johnson, 39, said that while things like nausea, fatigue, hair loss and pain are the obvious negatives, there are things 'we don't talk about,' like constipation from pain medication and chemically induced menopause. She also detailed her daily struggles and dealing with having no hair. Ms Johnson said she doesn't want sympathy but simply wants to acknowledge how 'cruel and relentless cancer is' and how hard it is to live with. The doting mother-of-two was diagnosed with cancer when she was 33 and told she would have just six months to a year to live. But she has defied the odds and continues to spread breast cancer awareness through her charity Love Your Sister.

This photograph captures the elated expression on a mother's face after she realised her baby was breastfeeding for the first time (pictured) US-based Ashley Rockhill said she recently gave birth to her third child, but it was her first that she'd decided to breastfeed. After two days after trying in vain, she'd contacted a lactation specialist for help. When she was finally successful, Aleaze Jeavons, a photographer based in Park City, Utah, was there to catch the special moment.

Boonthing Namphet (right), 42, from Thailand, is believed to have suffered from lymphoedema for 10 years. But Monk Bhin (pictured together left), who is famous for bringing aid to the poor, has appealed for help through social media. Currently, Mr Namphet must rely on his wife's minimal earnings - of around 250 Thai baht each day - about £5.50. However, they often have to dig into her earnings when she has to accompany him to hospital and stay overnight there.

One wife tricked her husband into losing weight by secretly swapping their outsized dinner plates for smaller versions, and lost weight herself in the bargain. Bookkeeper Jackie Galloway, 56, cut hubby Lance's portion sizes in half without him noticing by sneakily replacing their plates - and the duo ended up shedding an impressive seven-and-a-half stone between them (pictured left before the weight loss, and right after). Mum-of-three Jackie, from Milton Keynes, Bucks, used to serve her mountainous home-cooked meals on 11in diameter dinner platters but now eats her tea from a tiny 6.5in diameter side plate (pictured inset).

Actress Sofía Vergara is locked in a bitter legal battle with her ex-fiancé with Nick Loeb (inset), who has brought a 'right to live' case on behalf of their two frozen embryos despite his ex-partner's wishes. Family law partner Zahra Pabani tells FEMAIL what every couple should know before embarking on IVF (l-r) Tina Malone used an egg donor to become a mother again at 50; Elton John and David Furnish both donated sperm to conceive their two sons; and model Caprice used a surrogate.

A long line of stars have shed the pounds this year thanks to gruelling diets and exercise regimes. Left to right: Khloe Kardashian completed her weight loss transformation this year after dropping 2 stone; Lauren Goodger took to Instagram to show off her svelte new figure; and Vicky Pattison vowed to get her bikini body back in time for summer.

Tamzin Stockdale, from Wolverhampton, West Midlands, woke up unable to hear four years ago due to a rare virus she caught in the womb. She has had one cochlear implant installed giving her limited hearing back, but six months ago the virus struck again - robbing her of almost all her remaining hearing. The schoolgirl had a second implant installed earlier this month and doctors activated them both for the first time on Thursday. An adorable video of the 'switch on' shows the bubbly schoolgirl hearing everyone’s voices, all of which sound ‘like a robot.

WARNING: CONTAINS GRAPHIC IMAGES The Santo Toribio de Mogrovejo Hospital in Lima has a massive collection of diseased and healthy brains, giving researchers and the general public a glimpse of what is going on inside our heads. The hospital, which was founded more than three centuries ago, has a total of 2,912 brains collected over the years. Neuropathologist Diana Rivas (pictured) said female brains are 'more evolved' than men's.

Patrick Heaton (left), from Mold, Wales, was diagnosed with cerebral visual impairment when he was just six months old. It has left the two-year-old with severe eyesight problems and he is even legally registered as blind. But he was overwhelmed with joy when he was able to see his favourite movie characters re-created as bright lanterns (right). Patrick's family were offered free tickets to attend DreamWorks Light in Liverpool after the Hollywood movie studio heard about his charity set-up by his parents (inset with mother Lily, 33).

The mechanic, former soldier and father of two from Braintree, Essex, was utterly gripped by the notion he was a ghost. 'I genuinely believed I'd died in the crash, but for some reason my spirit hadn't moved on. I refused to eat because there was no point,' he says. 'I'd sit for hours in a room refusing to talk to anyone.'

The Cauliflower e Carne pizza Romana contains 76 per cent of a woman's daily calorie intake and the same amount of fat as eight Snickers bars: 89.4g. That's despite being topped with the health food du jour: cauliflower. One nutritionist says the pizza is one in a worrying trend for calorific and unhealthy festive food ranges launched by high street restaurants every Christmas.

The French mother developed a tear on her uterus, through which the baby's foot, still enclosed in the amniotic sac, popped. Part of the amniotic sac measuring 7.5 by 4.7 by 3.5 inches (19 by 12 by 9 cm) came through, according to a report in in The New England Journal of Medicine. However, after 30 weeks, the mother gave birth to a healthy boy via cesarean section.