A British man was given just six months to live after doctors dismissed his persisting symptoms as a ‘lingering cold’.

Warwick Smith knew something wasn’t quite right after he struggled to communicate with his colleagues at his job as a court clerk.

Prior to that, doctors had put the 67-year-old’s symptoms down to laryngitis, an inflammation of the voice box that can cause a variety of different symptoms including throat pain and sometimes even a fever.

Warwick’s health worsened over a period of months, and a lingering fear it may be something serious persisted.

Just two years prior, Warwick’s brother died from throat cancer, which worried the man from Littleborough, Greater Manchester in the UK, that it could run in the family.

Warwick had been experiencing unusual symptoms for months (MEN Media)

Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, Warwick said: “I knew something was wrong, it wasn’t right, it wasn’t normal. The doctor said it sounds like laryngitis and not to worry about it. I said, ‘I’m feeling really worried, it’s been a few months and this can’t be right’.

“My brother died from throat cancer two years beforehand. I was worried at the back of my mind because of family history. They told me to wait and it got worse and worse.”

With his symptoms not improving, Warwick finally got to see a specialist after a last-minute cancellation got him in.

Medical professionals performed a series of tests on Warwick, and in October 2022, he was diagnosed with stage 4 laryngeal cancer – a throat cancer that is actually quite rare in the US.

Warwick added to the MEN: “My feelings were anger more than anything. You just feel so, so angry. I asked what the outlook was. They said if you leave it, you have six months max or you can opt for a total laryngectomy. It will remove the lymph nodes, but you won’t be able to talk.”

Laryngectomy is a form of surgery that sees the voice box removed, with those who go through the procedure having to speak with a throat stoma.

Warwick was given six months to live but thankfully, the total laryngectomy he underwent was a success and has expanded his predicted lifespan (MEN Media)

Well, after spending 10 hours on the operating table undergoing a full neck dissection and total laryngectomy – a procedure that has given him a 50/50 chance of surviving five years – Warwick’s life has changed drastically.

He has had to adapt to pressing the stoma hole on his neck to speak, which was certainly a steep learning curve.

The grandad also had to retire from work, give up golf, and now has to wake up every four hours during the night to clean out the TEP valve.

He said of his new way of living: “You just have to practice. I used to rabbit on a bit, so living in a world of silence is so frustrating.

“A lot of people think you’re deaf as well or just ignore you. You have to write things down. I used to type things out on my phone. You’re just so desperate to speak.”

Warwick is now raising money for The Oldham Quiet Ones, a Greater Manchester laryngectomy support group of which he is a treasurer. If you’d like to donate, you can do so here.

A New England woman has survived the same horrific disease that paralyzed and later killed an Australian rugby player.

A 30-year-old has lived to tell the tale after contracting brain worms off the back of a three-week trip to Thailand, Japan and Hawaii, despite it taking almost two weeks since returning to the States before her diagnosis.

Doctor’s couldn’t understand what was up with the New England woman (Getty stock)

The woman, who has not been named, became the subject of a New England Journal of Medicine case study published on February 12.

The 11-page paper saw doctors at Massachusetts General Hospital, in Boston, as well as the University of Washington, analyze the medical mystery – which saw the woman visit three hospitals before the culprit was found… rat lungworm.

Of course, we’re familiar with the parasite, as a once-healthy 19-year-old Sam Ballard was dared by his friends to eat a slug, unbeknown to them that it was riddled with the horrific Angiostrongylus cantonensis – rat lungworm’s medical name.

It caused him to suffer severe weakness and pain throughout his legs, and it then lead him to contract a strand of meningitis known as eosinophilic meningoencephalitis, a severe but treatable disease that further worsened his condition.

Sadly, he fell into a 420-day coma, and when he woke up, he was severely disabled, with doctors explaining how he was paralysed after the parasite escaped to his brain, and all he could do was control his breathing and eyelids.

That happened back in 2010, and it wasn’t until 2018 that Sam passed away at the age of 29. His friends had told him at the time to eat the slug, but his mom insisted that she didn’t blame them for what had happened, saying that they were ‘just being mates’.

Like Sam, the New England woman also shared similar symptoms, as she complained that she felt a burning sensation in her feet which slowly progressed to her legs before reaching her core and through to her arms, with the slightest touch worsening the feeling.

A week passed until she booked herself into the ER complaining that her body felt like it was burning, while also suffering from a headache.

After a check-up, she was told everything seemed ‘normal’ and was advised to contact a physician.

Sam Ballard fell into a coma after eating a slug with the parasite known as rat lungworm on it (TheProjectTV)

The following day, she woke up in a daze and began packing for a vacation that didn’t exist. A family member tried to explain to the confused woman that she did not have any holiday booked.

That was when they visited Massachusetts General Hospital, with staff there documenting that she had returned from her trip 12 days ago.

On that trip she ate cooked street food in Bangkok, raw sushi in Tokyo, as well as indulging in salad and sushi during her 10 days in Hawaii – where she also swam in the ocean.

It was then that doctors finally diagnosed her with having been infected with rat lungworm.

Now, rat lungworm expert Robert Cowie, a research professor at the University of Hawaii, has labeled doctors in the US as ‘blissfully ignorant’ about the rat lungworm disease.

He explained to The Washington Post that their ignorance could be fatal and result in the harm of patients, stressing that victims need to take anti-worm medication as a matter of urgency to prevent life-threatening consequences.

Warning: This article contains discussion of cancer which some readers may find distressing

A mom who is battling stage 4 cancer has shared the hidden symptoms she had before her devastating diagnosis.

Zoe Gardner-Lawson, 36, had a CT scan in October 2024, and doctors discovered that the mom-of-three had a 5cm tumour on her bowel.

Now, Zoe – from Berkshire, UK – is on her fifth round of chemotherapy, and thinks her illness would have been caught earlier if bowel screenings were available to people in England from the age of 30.

Zoe Gardner-Lawson has stage 4 bowel cancer (SWNS)

As it stands in the UK, only those aged 54 to 74 years are invited for regular screenings.

“If my disease was caught earlier, it would’ve been easier to treat… I think the minimum age for testing needs to reduce,” Zoe said.

Zoe had initially be diagnosed with a UTI when she started feeling unwell, so was understandably shocked when she later learned that she had stage 4 bowel cancer.

Apparently she’d been living with the tumour for four years before it was found — something Zoe described as ‘terrifying’.

Despite feeling ‘fit and healthy’ previously, Zoe began experiencing a constant dull sensation in her lower back.

Doctors initially told Zoe that she had a UTI and was prescribed antibiotics (SWNS)

She didn’t like going to the doctor and rarely felt anxious about her health, but in August of last year, decided to book a phone appointment with her doctor.

Zoe was told she may have a UTI, and prescribed her with a week’s worth of antibiotics. When the feeling didn’t go away, she was prescribed two further doses across one month.

Recalling how she felt at the time, the 36-year-old said: “I was basically bedridden — I felt so unwell, and the back pain had spread to my abdomen, too.”

Zoe had another appointment with her doctor the following month, and she was advised to go straight to the emergency room.

Doctors checked Zoe’s symptoms and gave her a physical examination, concluding she may have kidney stones. But a CT scan confirmed this wasn’t the case and she was referred to a different department for some blood tests.

It wasn’t until the 36-year-old demanded a CT scan that her tumour was found (SWNS)

Zoe went on to demand a full body scan, which revealed that she had a perforation on her bowel and needed to be admitted, immediately.

A second opinion noticed she had a lime-sized tumour on her bowel causing the perforation, and had spread to her liver, peritoneum and stomach lymph nodes.

“I needed emergency surgery to remove the tumour on my bowel, get rid of all the fluid and waste which seeped out, and then re-evaluate,” she said.

The operation to remove as much of the tumour as possible, and the fluid, went ahead on October 3, and lasted four hours.

A biopsy revealed the tumour was a cancerous blastoma — one of the most aggressive forms of cancer — and Zoe was told she’d need to triple her chemo dosage per round.

The mother is currently on round five of eight in total.

A doctor has urged people to ‘never ignore’ this one cold symptom if it sticks around for a certain period of time.

While a runny nose, sneezing and coughing are perfectly common symptoms of a cold (especially during the winter months), it’s never a good sign if they hang about.

And there is one particular aspect you shouldn’t be ignoring if you’ve had it for three weeks or more, according to Dr Shireen.

The healthcare professional, who shares her words of wisdom on TikTok to over 24,000 followers, has advised when you should book an appointment with your GP.

Colds are common at this time of year (Getty Stock Image)

“There is one thing I wish everyone knew about coughs – and it’s really simple. If you’ve had a persistent cough for more than three weeks, you need to see a doctor,” Dr Shireen said.

“There are lots of different things that can cause a chronic cough like asthma, reflux, respiratory tract infection. But, it is also important that we rule out things like lung cancer.”

The doctor added: “If someone has a persistent cough, what we [as doctors] usually do is first examine them and send them for a chest X-ray. It’s a really quick, easy test that we can do to look at someone’s lungs and make sure nothing is going on there that we need to be concerned about.”

While a cough is common once in a while, Mayo Clinic warns a cough ‘that lasts for several weeks or one that brings up discolored or bloody mucus may be a sign of a condition that needs medical attention’.

The NHS also recommends those who have a cough alongside losing weight for no reason and those who have a weakened immune system because of chemotherapy or diabetes, for example, should pay their GP a visit.

According to the GP, you should be paying the doctors a visit if you’ve had a ‘persistent cough’ for three weeks (Getty Stock Image)

Previously, Dr Malathy Munisamy told The Mirror that ‘standard coughs’ will typically ‘settle on their own within a couple of weeks’ and are ‘often harmless’.

And if your cough is caused by a cold or flu – with typical symptoms taking the form of sneezing, headaches, muscle aches and fever – then ‘rest, hydration, paracetamol, ibuprofen, or cold relief medication are usually effective treatments’.

However, Cleveland Clinic reassures: “Having a cough often means nothing serious. It’s normal (and helpful) to cough in certain situations. Coughing helps you get rid of things in your throat and airways that are irritating or making it harder to breathe.

“If you also have other symptoms like trouble breathing, fever, trouble eating or sleeping, or you’re coughing up bloody or colored sputum, call your healthcare provider for advice. Because young kids can’t tell us what they’re feeling, it’s a good idea to call your child’s provider if they have a cough and fever or a cough that sounds uncomfortable or concerning to you.”