A mother told she had terminal cancer by doctors who ignored her pleas for help 13 times has made a miracle recovery following the UK's first operation of its kind. Ruth McDonagh was repeatedly turned away by medics over the course of two years despite suffering from the classic symptoms of bowel cancer. By the time it was diagnosed, she was told she had just 18 months left to live as a huge tumour in her bowel had grown so large it was almost inoperable. Her only option was a £100,000 operation only available in the US which was certain to leave her paralysed from the waist down. But at the eleventh hour a team of UK doctors trained in the American technique agreed to carry out Ruth's surgery in a 13-hour operation never before carried out in this country.
HOTSPOT MEDIA - LETHAL BIRTHMARK NEARLY SUFFOCATES GIRL: Zoe Mitchell when she was two-weeks-old .
Sprawled out on top of a log, this sleeping leopard takes a relaxing break from his daily routine .
A care worker who broke her spine after jumping from a window to escape a sex attack at the hands of a resident has called for tougher safety measures to protect care staff .
A mother has spoken of her outrage after discovering her missing cat had been stolen - only to be told she cannot have its location due to the Data Protection Act .
Recovering from a rare form of breast cancer, Deborah Barnett, 43, of Stoke-on-Trent, thought she'd made it through the worst, but she was betrayed by former colleague Sandra Ramsay, of Mow Cop Road, Mow Cop, Stoke-on-Trent .
A woman was left fighting for her life after an eczema wound became infected and caused a deadly flesh-eating bug to ravish a hole in her arm .
RESTING his weary head on his flipper, this little seal pup takes a much needed nap after an afternoon of strenuous yoga .
A young orangutan comes over all shy as she hides her face behind a broken bucket .
What lies beneath this building site? Britain's great hope of winning the pre-WW2 arms race against Nazi Germany .
A trout manages to escape the jaws of a hungry cormorant - only to find itself back inside the bird's long beak .
COURAGEOUS climbers descend 400 metres as they manoeuvre their way through thick walls of ice .
A WIMBLEDON-mad couple will be creating a racket this summer - after installing a TENNIS COURT in their living room .