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.
A proud stag attempts to impress the females by donning an enormous fern headdress in London's Bushy Park .
ARMED with her camera, bikini and flippers, this brave diver goes swimming with SHARKS .
FROM ICE bubbles to boiling lava, these photographs highlight the stunning shapes and patterns found in nature .
THIS BIGFOOT 'Jesus bird' may look silly, but he's perfectly designed for walking on water .
Sprawled out on top of a log, this sleeping leopard takes a relaxing break from his daily routine .
HOPPING onto the scales, these adorable baby Humboldt penguins are ready for their first weigh-in .
Bathers on a New Zealand beach stripped naked and took to the Pacific Ocean in an attempt to shatter the record for the world's largest skinny dip .
Meet the Victorian gentleman who could not face sitting next to smelly commuters on the bus - so he dodges danger to go to work on a penny farthing .
MAKING himself at home, this little snail perches happily on top of this frog's head .
Gabrielle Dale, 26, was subjected to seven years of coercive control and physical abuse at the hands of her violent boyfriend Sean Owen, 29 .
A trout manages to escape the jaws of a hungry cormorant - only to find itself back inside the bird's long beak .
SOME OF the sea’s most terrifying creatures show their softer side as they join a group of diners for lunch .