Family and friends say heartbreaking farewell to father and son who died while clutching each other as Sandy floodwaters rushed into their home

• Father and son were covered in 12ft of water within seconds of Sandy’s strike
• Son refused to leave his dad’s side despite being warned to evacuate
• Deaths in Staten Island now up to 19 after the superstorm
• Brother of the father was a fireman during 9/11 but said ‘nothing compares’ to this family loss

By Daniel Bates

Published: 22:39 EDT, 5 November 2012 | Updated: 11:12 EDT, 6 November 2012

A tragic father and son who died side-by-side as the fierce floodwaters of Superstorm Sandy rushed into their home were buried together on Monday in an emotional funeral.

John Filipowicz, of Staten Island, and his son – also named John – were found clinging to each other in their basement as they shielded themselves from a  torrent which covered them in 12ft of water in seconds.

John Jr, 20, was found drowned in his father’s arms after telling relatives that he would not leave his father.

Scroll down for video

A service was held for the father and son on Monday at Staten Island’s St Charles Church.

It was attended by dozens of mourners, including John Sr’s wife Christine and their surviving children Joseph – John Jr’s twin brother – and 16-year-old Cali.

DNAInfo reported that the two men were big fans of the New York Jets, and were buried in the jerseys of their favorite players – Joe Klecko for John Sr and Dustin Keller for John Jr.

Relatives said that the two had an ‘incredible bond’ and would never have been separated – in life or in death.

John Sr, 51, stayed behind to watch over the house, but his son refused to leave his side.

Among the mourners were John Sr’s wife Christine, and his two surviving children, Joseph, John Jr’s twin and 16-year-old Cali.

The deaths were among the 19 fatalities on Staten Island due to Superstorm Sandy, more than any other borough in New York. The total U.S. death toll currently stands at 110.

Among the other victims were Connor and Brandon Moore, aged four and two, who were swept out of their mother’s arms by a giant wave on the east coast of Staten Island.

The Filipowicz family lived on Fox Beach Avenue, which was among the hardest hit streets on the island.

Neil Filipowicz, 46, John Sr’s brother, told MailOnline that his brother decided to ignore warnings to evacuate after Hurricane Irene last year and a 1992 storm.

He said: ‘I spoke to Joseph and he said that that day he tried to get him to leave. He was on the phone and was telling John [Jr] to leave the house. He told him: ‘I’m not leaving Daddy.’

‘There was no way he was going to leave his dad at home. It was a bond how it’s supposed to be with your kids, between a son and a father. They loved each other so much. They had an incredible bond.’

Neil, a retired New York City firefighter who served on 9/11, said the family became concerned when they were unable to reach either father or son during Monday night’s storm.

Neil went to their house the next day at 7.30am, had a look round the house and noticed his brother’s keys and wallet were on the table but there was no sign of them.

Neil, Christine and other relatives then went round local hostels and when they found nothing, Neil went back to the house on his own.

Neil said: ‘I crawled through a hole in the wall that the water had made. I shone my flashlight from right to left and then I saw a hand, to my left.

‘I was praying it was a doll’s hand but I reached in the water and grabbed it and my nephew came up.

‘My brother came up too, he had his arm round the back of his head, shielding him.

‘I was pulling both of them at the same time, by their shirts and a neighbour came and helped me remove them and we put them on the side of the house until they were moved by the National Guard and the Medical Examiner.

‘My nephew was holding my brother and my brother was clutching him into his chest as if they knew they were dying.

‘My brother was protecting him. Their eyes were open. My brother looked intense, like he was still trying to fight the end and be the father and protect his son. My nephew was so scared.

‘The water line on this was 10ft up but I’m thinking it must have been much higher.’

Neil said that the two men were in the basement because they were checking on things.’

He added said: ‘I know my brother had some sandbags outside, he had used some expandable foam on the back door. No water got through it.

‘All the foam had to be cut out, he probably was checking on it and maybe he heard a crack in the structure, but once that gave way, the rush of the water, that pressure.

‘Some of the cinderblocks are over the other side of the basement. To be pushed like that, they shot like [a] cannon.’

Fighting back the tears, Neil said that he had been on duty as a New York City fireman on 9/11 but that ‘nothing compares to this because of the closeness.’

Neighbours knew John the elder as the ‘mayor’ of the street because he looked after them all by helping clean the snow out of the street in winter.

They in turn referred to him by the family nickname, ‘Flip’. Paying tribute to his brother, Neil said: ‘My brother was all about family. Even our friends were considered family, it was like an extended family.

‘He was United States Marine out of High School. He served in Greneda then he worked in the New York City Corrections Department and from there he retired and worked for the Concrete Labourers Union for a while.

‘He was a big family man, loved his wife and kids immensely. For the last few years he drove a bus for school kids.

‘He was football coach, a basketball coach. He was school baseball coach as well and was a church going man, he was a regular at St Charles Catholic church.’

Neil described John Jr as a ‘prince’ who did ‘anything for anyone.’

He said: ‘He was the heir to who is father was. He did everything right. He was never in trouble, he did everything right. He was devoted to his girlfriend. He went to college and took the Fire Department test, he was trying to better himself and thinking about becoming a nurse.’

VIDEO: Father and son laid to rest side by side

Eight-year-old girl who died ‘after being tortured by her father was forced to eat her own faeces when his mistress locked her in toilet’

• Father and mistress charged with with torturing and imprisoning the girl and her sister
• Mistress admits to using hot irons to punish girls for being ‘disobedient’
  
• Couple used metal bars and wires to systematically torture two daughters
• Police found stun guns and sticks in the flat where the children were abandoned

By Tahira Yaqoob

Published: 14:57 EDT, 7 November 2012 | Updated: 15:30 EDT, 7 November 2012

An eight-year-old girl who died after being tortured with stun guns and hot irons was forced to eat her own faeces after her father and his mistress left her to starve in a locked toilet, a Dubai court heard.

Wadeema al Sherawi had been deprived of food and was locked up as punishment for being ‘naughty’ on the night she died – and in desperation, she ate her own waste before vomiting as a result.

Her father Hamad Saoud al Sherawi, 29, and his mistress Al Anood al Ameri, 27, have been charged with torturing and imprisoning Wadeema and her seven-year-old sister Mira, killing Wadeema and burying her illegally.

The Emirati couple are said to have beaten the girls with electrical wires and metal bars, poured boiling water on them and burned them with hot irons and cigarettes.

A policeman told Dubai Court of First Instance that Wadeema and Mira – who survived the abuse but was left with a permanent disability – were often left unfed and sometimes ate their own faeces.

Emirati police officer Essam Obaid, 35, told the court: ‘The girl and her younger sister were left unfed in the flat.

‘On the night [Wadeema] died, she vomited a lot because she ate her own faeces.

‘She and her sister used to eat mouldy food and sometimes their own faeces.’ 

A second witness in the trial, police corporal Mubarak Ahmed Taleb, 34, said the studio apartment where the couple lived with the two girls was filthy and ‘not fit for humans to live in’.

He told the court it reeked of stale urine: ‘It smelled really bad and was dirty. There was only one bed and the furniture was turned upside down. The girls’ clothes stank and there was mess everywhere.

‘The fridge was full of food which was out of date. No one could live in it.’

He said when his investigation team searched the flat, they found two irons with brown marks on them and said: ‘They had used them to burn the girls.’

He added they found some of the implements of torture, including metal bars, sticks and stun guns.

Al Sherawi and Al Ameri, who have just had a baby boy called Saoud while being held separately in captivity, stood in court while judge Maher Salameh heard the case against them.

Al Ameri clutched her sleeping newborn baby to her chest wrapped in a blue checked blanket.

The pair were arrested after the girls’ uncle visited the flat in International City, Dubai, and was told by Mira of the abuse.

He initially blamed both of them for Wadeema’s death but later changed his story, saying Al Sherawi was ‘a great father who loved his children’.

Al Sherawi has denied all the charges and only admits burying Wadeema in the desert while his mistress has pleaded guilty to all the allegations.

Mr Obaid said today: ‘When I questioned Al Anood, she claimed she saw Wadeema vomiting heavily and was very sick that evening so she called Hamad and asked him to come to the flat.

‘They left her until 5am in the toilet and when they went to check on her, she was dead. She vomited because she ate her own excrement.

‘Al Anood admitted heating the irons and torturing the girls. She said Wadeema was tortured because she did not listen and was disobedient.’

The judge said: ‘Was there no other way she could teach her children?’

Mr Obaid said Al Anood told him they had washed and dressed Wadeema before burying her in the desert.

He said he had not interviewed Mira. The little girl gave evidence in court yesterday but after Al Sherawi, who was clean-shaven for the first time in the trial, refused to carry on with proceedings unless reporters were banned, the trial was heard in chambers.

Wadeema’s body was found in June but was so badly decomposed, forensic experts could not tell how she had died.

The girls’ natural mother Salma Obaid had to give them up in November 2011 after losing custody and had not seen them for six months when Wadeema died.

She married Al Sherawi in 2002 and divorced him in 2006. She previously told the court she tried to convince him to let her see the girls but was forbidden contact with them.

A forensics expert said Mira had been lucky not to die from her injuries. The case was adjourned until November 25.

 

Parents of woman who died when Irish doctors refused to perform abortion meet with Indian government to demand justice

• Savita Halappanavar, 31, was found to be miscarrying when she was admitted to Galway University Hospital
• The dentist, who was 17 weeks pregnant, was denied a medical termination, and died from septicaemia on October 28
• Indian officials have promised parents Anadappa and Akka Mahadevi Yalgi all possible help
• Pro-choice campaigners plan mass rallies in Ireland calling for abortion to be legalised
  

By Rebecca Seales

Published: 14:53 EDT, 16 November 2012 | Updated: 16:49 EDT, 17 November 2012

The parents of an Indian woman who died of blood poisoning after Irish doctors refused her an abortion have met officials to demand justice for their daughter.

Savita Halappanavar, 31, was 17 weeks pregnant when she began miscarrying, and died of septicaemia a week later.

Her husband Praveen Halappanavar, 34, has told how he begged doctors at Galway University Hospital to terminate the pregnancy, but they refused to do so because she was ‘in a Catholic country’ and the foetus’s heartbeat was still present.

The tragedy has provoked soul searching in the Republic of Ireland, where abortion is illegal, as well as considerable anger in some quarters.

Campaigners are demanding a change in the law to allow abortion in the case where the mother’s life is in danger.

Savita’s parents Anadappa Yalgi, 62, and his wife Akka Mahadevi Yalgi, 54, met with municipal government officials late on Friday afternoon at the family home in Belgaum, South West India.

The grieving couple asked Belgaum’s Deputy Commissioner, Anbu Kumar, to help ensure every possible assistance from the Indian government.

Mr Kumar said of the encounter: ‘I visited the house and offered our government’s help where possible.’

A photo of Savita now hangs in the family home covered in a garland, as is traditional in India’s Hindu community after the death of a loved one.

Echoing comments made by her parents, India’s ambassador to Ireland said today that Mrs Halappanavar might still be alive today if she had been treated in India.

Debashish Chakravarti told RTÉ radio that he hoped the Irish government would take steps to ensure the circumstances which led to her death never arose again. 

Abortion is not illegal in India when the mother’s life is at risk, the ambassador noted.

Meanwhile Ireland’s ambassador to India, Feilim McLaughlin, was officially summoned by the Delhi government on Friday to discuss an inquiry into Mrs Halappanavar’s death.

Madhusudan Ganapathi, secretary (west) in the external affairs ministry, told the Irish envoy he hoped the inquiry into the tragedy would be independent.

He also conveyed the sadness felt by people in India as ‘a young life had come to an untimely end’.

India’s External Affairs Minister Salman Khurshid said of the tragedy: “Saving the life of the mother is of prime importance, if you can’t save the life of the child.”

Mr Halappanavar, Savita’s husband, has described how he held her hand as she died.

Reliving her final moments, he said: ‘In the night, at around one o’clock, the nurse came running, as I was standing outside ICU.

‘She just told me to be brave, and she took me near Savita, and she said: “Will you be OK to be there, living her last minutes?

‘I said: “Yes, I want to”. I was holding her hand, they were trying to pump her heart, there was a big team around. The doctor just told me they lost her.’

Mr Halappanavar, who works as an engineer at Boston Scientific in Galway, came to Ireland from India with his wife four years ago to start a new life together. She had a job in Westport, Co Mayo and the pair lived in Galway city.

Happy couple: Savita and her husband Praveen dancing at 2010 Diwali festival in Galway, video from YouTube

They were so excited about the expected birth of their first child, which was due on March 20, that they had an early baby shower in recent weeks when Mrs Halappanavar’s parents were visiting.

Pro-choice activists in Ireland have turned to social media networks to organise a mass protest against the country’s abortion laws on Saturday.

A rally in central Dublin is expected to attract several thousand demonstrators, and follows similar rallies on Thursday night in Belfast and on Friday in Derry.

MEMOIR

High Caucasus

by Tom Parfitt (Headline £25, 332pp)

The children arrived at school on September 1, 2004, the first day of the school year, ‘carrying new satchels and bunches of flowers for their teachers . . .’

One of the first-graders, seven-year-old Dzera Kudzayeva, had been chosen for the ‘first bell’ ritual, in which a new girl is hoisted on the shoulders of one of the oldest boys and rings a handbell. The town was called Beslan.

Shortly after the children assembled, the militants arrived, jumping off a flat-bed truck, firing automatic rifles in the air and shouting Allahu Akbar! 

They shot two security guards and then took hundreds of children and their teachers hostage inside the school. 

Days passed; the situation became chaotic, with local men arming themselves with guns, and Russia’s ruthless special forces, Spetsnaz, arriving.

The militants were Chechens, seeking revenge in the pro-Russian Christian republic of North Ossetia for the countless brutalities Russia had inflicted on their own Muslim homeland of Chechnya, paying brutality back with even worse brutality.

They released a few breastfeeding mothers and their babies, but the rest of the captive children were made to strip to their underwear, herded into a baking hot gymnasium and denied drinking water. They were forced to drink their own urine.

Finally, chaos erupted, bombs exploded, fire broke out and the building was stormed — resulting in the deaths of 333 people, including 186 children. 

Parfitt, a correspondent in Moscow for British newspapers, saw it all.

‘In a man’s arms, a girl of nine or so had blood trickling from the corners of her mouth . . . the corpses of four children lay covered in sheets . . . a man in camouflage with his fists raised in bloody rags . . .’

Many journalists witness dreadful things to bring us the news, but Beslan was an especially hideous massacre of the innocents. 

Even though Parfitt insists, bravely, that he didn’t suffer from PTSD afterwards, he certainly struggled.

Soon there came recurring nightmares, especially one in which he saw a mother who had just lost her child in the massacre, falling to the ground in slow motion, ‘floundering, plunging before my helpless sight. Three seconds torn from a reel of terror and decelerated into endless purgatory.’

One evening, ‘I was pulling on my socks when I began gabbling incoherently’. He decided he had to do something. 

And so he did what many traumatised survivors have done: he turned to nature, to mountains, to forests and rivers, and to the slow, wordless magic of a very, very long walk.

He would trek from end to end across the Caucasus mountain range, through its many troubled but beautiful republics, like Ingushetia, Dagestan, and Chechnya itself: eight regions in all, with the Foreign Office advising against visiting all but two of them.

Parfitt hoped to experience a more tranquil region, to find his own peace, and try to understand how something so atrocious could have happened.

The result is this book, High Caucasus, one of the most harrowing, beautifully written and finest accounts of a mountain trek that I have ever read — an instant classic. 

You might describe it as a secular pilgrimage in search of some kind of salvation, or at least partial healing and understanding. 

Parfitt comes to absolutely love this landscape: ‘The North Caucasus had cast a spell over me that no place has matched, before or since.’

He vividly evokes a world where life is very tough, but so are the people: a world where Abkhazian women trek miles across the border to sell armfuls of mimosa blossoms for a few roubles to the Russians, while the menfolk shoot bears and then ‘sell the fat for people to rub on their chests when they’re ill’.

He meets numerous jolly, if often tipsy, shepherds with huge moustaches, wearing sheepskin jackets, spending months up in the high summer pastures with their flocks, defending them from wolves and sleeping in sparse huts. 

They are always keen to press vodka upon this exotic foreign walker, and discuss the world together.

An orthodox priest tells him he has heard that London is very bad for crime. ‘East 17,’ he said. ‘Same as the group.’ ‘Ah,’ says Parfitt, ‘Walthamstow.’

There are many such comic moments, as when he fears he’s heading into a gunfight, hearing bullets fly, but a local assures him: ‘More likely a wedding.’

Soon he encounters ‘a pristine blue Rolls-Royce Phantom with a man sitting on the passenger window and firing a Kalashnikov into the air’. All very cheery, nothing to worry about.

Parfitt concludes his great adventure with the feeling that history is something all peoples must both remember and forget, so as not to be trapped into attitudes of smouldering hatred and longing for revenge.

And yes, nature heals, as do long days with simple but far from stupid people.

At last the Caucasus comes to mean not just the horrors of Beslan, but also ‘a curtain of cloud rising like smoke over a ridge . . . a bowl of mulberries on a sunlit windowsill’, while ‘above all, filling the horizon from west to east in a chain of wonder, rises the frosty palisade of the mountains: vast, sparkling, immutable’. 

A magical book.

A British policewoman who died following a reported accidental fall in Corfu may have unwittingly drunk alcohol laced with methanol, Greek cops fear. 

The 22-year-old victim, who has not yet been named but worked for Surrey Police, was found with severe head injuries on a side street in Kavos in the early hours of Friday.

She had arrived on the island just hours before the fatal fall that saw her plunge from a height of several metres, reports the Sun. 

The Briton had decided to stay out while her colleague went back to their hotel on Friday night. Greek authorities believe the fatal injuries she sustained outside a bar are compatible with an ‘accidental fall’. 

But authorities on the Greek island are now investigating whether the victim had unwittingly drunk alcohol that had been laced with methanol, which is much more toxic than the ethanol found in regular alcoholic drinks.

Leading coroner Ioannis Aivatidis, who detected alcohol on the Briton’s breath, told the Sun: ‘There are questions as to what kind of alcohol she consumed. Had it been illicitly tampered with? 

‘Was she so intoxicated because [illegal] methanol was in the alcoholic drinks she had consumed? The answer lies in the toxicology tests that will be carried out.’

In the hours after the police officer was found dead, authorities in Corfu announced that 28 bars would be shut down after they were found to be serving adulterated alcoholic drinks to customers. 

Sources said that the closures were ‘more than coincidental’ given that they occurred following raids that were conducted shortly after the Briton was found dead. 

Aivatidis told the Mirror there was no evidence the British police officer had been attack. Instead, he said that a postmortem examination had revealed she had fallen from a height of several metres. 

Aivatidis told the Sun: ‘Findings included fractures to her thorax, stomach and a small rupture of the spleen. But it was a traumatic head injury that killed her.’

The coroner said the findings suggest there was no criminal involvement, which echoes the view of Greek police. 

He said it was unclear whether the victim had been with her friends at the time of her accidental fall.

Aivatidis said: ‘I believe she may have confused the building she was staying in and may have fallen attempting to enter the one she was found outside of in an unorthodox manner.

‘What remains unclear and is now part of the [police probe] is whether she was abandoned by friends after the fall.’  

Aivatidis said he would be carrying out further examinations of the 22-year-old’s body including toxicology tests today.

The victim was allegedly left bleeding on the street – possibly for hours – before she was found, according to Greek media.  

The woman’s friends, who had travelled to Corfu on holiday with the victim, had told Corfu police that her phone was missing at some point during Friday night, suggesting that it might have been stolen. 

But her mobile was found ‘nearby’, making the accidental manner of her death ‘now much more possible’, Aivatidis said. ‘But the autopsy will be definitive. It will rule out other possible scenarios.’ 

The victim’s stepfather, who is also a police officer, is expected to arrive on the island to repatriate the policewoman’s body back to the UK this week.  

Meanwhile, Surrey Police said in a statement on Saturday: ‘Yesterday we were sadly made aware of the sudden death of a serving office whilst they were on holiday in Corfu, Greece.

‘We are working to support both their family and their colleagues here during this extremely difficult time. 

‘An investigation into the circumstances of the death is being led by the Greek authorities and we await further updates from them as they conduct their enquiries.’

The Surrey Police Federation echoed these sentiments and said the police officer’s death was ‘devastating’.

It added: ‘The thoughts of all at Surrey Police Federation are with the officer’s family, friends and close colleagues at this time. Both the Federation and the force are supporting them.’

A spokesperson for the Foreign Office told MailOnline: ‘We are supporting the family of a British woman who has died in Greece and are in contact with the local authorities’.

Tragedy marred Spanish celebrations when it was revealed to goal scorer Olga Carmona that her father had passed away before the final.

Carmona’s father is understood to have died on Friday but news was kept from the 23-year-old so as not to affect her frame of mind going into the game against England.

The Spanish football federation tweeted after the game: ‘We deeply regret to announce the death of Olga Carmona’s father. The footballer learnt the sad news after the World Cup final. We love you, Olga, you are part of Spanish football history.’

Carmona had celebrated her first half goal with a message on her shirt for a friend whose mother had just died. 

It was reminiscent of men’s player Andres Iniesta’s gesture to his late friend Dani Jarque when he got Spain’s winning goal in the men’s World Cup final in 2010.

Carmona, a left back, was named player of the match and also scored a late winner in Spain’s semi-final win over Sweden.

She celebrated her team’s success on the pitch with her team-mates, dancing around the Sydney Stadium.

In an interview, she said: ‘We felt this team had something special’.

Spain celebrated their win in style out on the pitch with Queen Letizia even making her way to the centre of the team photograph and lifting the trophy. 

She was then presented with a Spain shirt with a number 12 on the back and had to politely decline as the entire squad chanted for her to put it on. 

Protocol was forgotten as Spain became only the second nation, after Germany, to have won both men’s and women’s World Cups.

‘We dedicate it to all our families and to the people back in Spain,’ said Jennifer Hermoso who missed a penalty, ‘we have played football the way we wanted to and we have won a world championship.’ 

Back in Spain they had been queuing two hours before kick-off outside of the 6,000 capacity WiZink Center in Madrid, one of around 30 fan sites set up around the country to show the final.

On 90 minutes there was a communal gulp as the fourth official showed that 13 minutes were to be added on, but once the final whistle had been blown the euphoria was released.

‘We got revenge in the most important of games,’ said Diario AS remembering how England had knocked Spain out of the Euros in the quarter-finals a year ago.

‘It’s nice that we are breaking down barriers and that we are being talked about,’ said midfielder Teresa Abelleira. The attention is unlikely to diminish any time soon.

Spain are due to arrive back home to Madrid on Monday night where they will go straight into a trophy parade in the Spanish capital.

However, their victory and subsequent celebrations have attracted controversy after the president of the Spanish FA Luis Rubiales kissed forward Jenni Hermoso on the podium as the players collected their medals.

Rubiales threw his arms around Hermoso and gave her a strong hug while whispering in her ear. He then put both his hands on the back of her head and kissed her on the lips.

Hermoso was asked about the embrace after the match by Spanish TV station La 1 and, appearing somewhat uncomfortable, told them: ‘Eh… yeah, I did not enjoy that.’ 

She said the same thing when asked on a livestream on her Instagram from Spain’s dressing rooms. 

Footage of the kiss has gone viral online since it was seen on air, with some supporters hugely critical of Rubiales’ behaviour.

One infuriated fan said: ‘The behaviour of Rubiales on that podium was absolutely grim. Highly highly inappropriate!’

Another added: ‘This is just awful, there’s absolutely nothing justifying Rubiales behaviour.’

A further angry individual highlighted their disdain at the attitude of a senior figure in Spanish football. They said: ‘The concerning fact here is the nonchalant manner Rubiales behaves towards Hermoso. The FA president does this on the biggest stage of the sport with royalty and officials near him, surrounded by cameras. Very disturbing, and frankly, concerning.’

One individual even insisted it was a worrying sign for the future of the sport as they added: ‘It’s sad to think that women’s football is not going to progress very far if men like Rubiales, Vilda, and Infantino remain in powerful positions.’

Susanna Reid has paid tribute to ‘beautiful friend’ Suki Thompson who died of skin cancer just days after appearing on Good Morning Britain.

The presenter, 52, took to Instagram on Tuesday to confirm the devastating news of former advertising industry star Suki’s passing after a terminal battle with the illness. 

Last month, Suki was interviewed by Susanna on GMB from her hospital bed about having been diagnosed with cancer four times over the past 15 years and how important it is to wear SPF on your skin in the sun.

Just days later, on July 30, the campaigner – who raised more than £200,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support following her diagnosis – sadly died and Susanna has now paid tribute to her ‘beautiful’ friend in an emotional post shared to Instagram.

She posted a photograph of the order of service for Suki’s funeral and wrote about how her friend was the ’embodiment of strength’ in an accompanying caption.

She posted: ‘Our beautiful friend Suki Thompson. The embodiment of strength & optimism. A passion for living life to the fullest. Go well lovely.’

Just days before her death, entrepreneur Suki, who ran multiple businesses, had appeared on GMB from her hospital bed where she was interviewed by her close friend Susanna.

Suki had been diagnosed with cancer four times over the past 15 years, and told how she might only have days left to live on the show, before her death on July 30.

Speaking from her bed in a hospice in Cornwall, Suki opened up to Susanna and co-host Martin Lewis about how she would be spending her final days.

Susanna was left visibly emotional as she and her friend told each other how much they meant to each other, with the broadcaster hailing her pal as ‘an inspiration’.

Susanna told Suki: ‘It’s been a privilege knowing you and being friends with you.’

She went on to call her an ‘incredible person’, before adding: ‘What you are doing is so so remarkable. Huge love to you and the family. And just keep going, keep going. Human sunshine.’

Extending the kind words back to her pal, Suki said back to Susanna: ‘I am so inspired by having a friend like you Susanna.’

Touched by Suki’s moving words, Susanna choked back tears as she quickly added: ‘You’re the inspiration.’ 

Suki’s diagnosis came when she discovered what she thought was a wart on her foot and was given verruca cream to treat it, before it was confirmed it was more serious. The cancer then spread to her brain and became terminal.

In June, Suki had shared an emotional video of herself and Susanna holding hands on a beach as she detailed how much the star meant to her. 

She wrote in her caption: ‘Friends are so important to our wellbeing, and @susannareid100 is one of the best.

‘Susanna inspires me to always ask the important questions in life, even when that is not the easiest way forward.

‘We must always look to see the best in people, even when you may disagree.’

Suki co-founded and served as Chief Executive Officer for the Oystercatchers intermediary marketing consultancy in 2007 and also served as chair of the Marketing Society. 

She was also a valued member of Wacl (Women in Advertising, Communications and Leadership) and the MGGB (Marketing Group of Great Britain).

Since her own cancer diagnosis she raised in excess of £200,000 for Macmillan Cancer Support.

Richard Robinson, managing director of Xeim Engage and Oystercatchers, told The Drum: ‘Suki was my long-time business partner and friend. I always knew from my first day as an Oystercatcher this day would one day come, but never believed it would. 

‘Suki was one of a kind, the best of us, someone who leaves a legacy across the marketing and communication industry in the relationships she shaped and the humanity she shared. She was a beautiful soul and I will miss her greatly.’ 

Visit Suki’s JustGiving page at https://justgiving.com/page/teamsuki to support her fundraising campaign. 

Heartbroken Dean Gaffney has announced the death of his beloved mother Marian.

The former EastEnders actor, 45, took to Instagram to break the news after finding her ‘asleep’ on Monday morning. 

Alongside a photo of himself and his mum, he wrote: ‘I am simply broken to share that my beautiful selfless mother Marian has sadly passed away.

‘I was, am and always will be a mummy’s boy so this news has completely floored me.

‘I spoke to her every day and in some ways I’m glad I’m the one that found her asleep.

Dean continued: ‘I will retain all the amazing memories that we shared and whilst I understand the circle of life means everyone will feel this pain at some point in their lives, life can be very cruel at times.

‘To know I will

 never be able to physically see or speak to her ever again is beyond any pain I’ve ever experienced in my life.

‘We all tell our parents and loved ones we love them flippantly at the end of a phone call but please tell them you actually really love them… put down that phone when you’re with them, as my mums only criticism of me was that I would be on my phone when in her company. Life really does change from one minute to the next.

He added: ‘I truly love you Mum, you don’t only hold a special place in my heart, you are my heart.

‘For anyone that knew her, I don’t need to remind you of who my mum was as a person for others that don’t, she was the most amazing selfless, caring, generous soul to ever walk the earth. Mum, I truly love you.’

Fans and friends showed their support after hearing the devastating news, with fellow EastEnders actor Max Bowden penning: ‘Love you so much mate. She was so proud of you.’

Carol Vorderman said: ‘Oh Dean. I’m so very sorry to hear your news….. you loved her so much and she would have been so proud of you. Sending love as ever.’ 

Alison Hammond added: ‘Massive condolences to you and your family I feel this with you’ 

Celebs Go Dating star Anna Williamson said: ‘Dean, I’m so sorry to hear this honey. Sending love & always here if you need a shoulder.’ 

Dean, who is most famous for playing Robbie on the BBC soap, shares twins Chloe and Charlotte, with ex partner Sarah Burge.

The pair met when they were just 15-years-old and dated for 22 years before they announced their split in June 2015, after he admitted to cheating on her with a string of women.

Dean recently revealed he felt lucky to be alive after his medical for I’m A Celebrity raised bowel cancer concerns which prompted emergency surgery.

He took part in the recent all stars version of the ITV reality show after originally competing in I’m A Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! in 2006.

He was given the boot from the series before his fellow campmate Myleene Klass went on to win the season .

The star was first considered for the covid-safe version of the show which took place during lockdown at Gwrych Castle in North Wales in 2020.

And, after undergoing medical tests for his potential appearance, doctors were concerned about what they saw as a result of tests, with Dean now considering the I’m A Celebrity tests to have saved his life.

He told the Mirror: ‘There is no doubt I’m A Celeb and its medical team saved my life. I might not be here today if it wasn’t for them finding what they did.’

Doctors found number of polyps in his large intestine which left him needing an emergency procedure.

‘Within hours I was in a hospital gown and under general ­anaesthetic and they took it out,’ explained Dean.

After he came round from his surgery, Dean claims a doctor told him: ‘Had you not come to us today, in three years that could have turned to bowel cancer. You’ve been very lucky.’

The mother of a vegan influencer who lived on an ‘extreme’ diet of raw fruit and vegetables before she reportedly died from starvation and exhaustion has told how she ‘knew she was about to die’.

Vera Samsonova, 63, said her daughter Zhanna Samsonova, who is known as Zhanna D’Art on social media, ‘did not listen to her’ when she begged her to come home after warning her about the effects of her ‘nightmare’ diet of restrictive eating.

Ms Samsonova, originally from Russia, had been on the raw plant-based diet for ten years that consisted of fruits, sunflower seed sprouts, fruit smoothies and juices before she died on July 21. 

The 39-year-old, who friends say was suffering from anorexia, became so weak in the final weeks of her life as a result of her extreme diet that she was practically bed-bound and it would take her ‘several minutes’ to walk up one step on a staircase. 

Ms Samsonova, who hadn’t drunk water for more than six years and instead replaced it with fruit and vegetable juices, died on July 21 while in intensive care at a hospital in Malaysia.

Her mother has spoken of her anguish over her death, which she believes was the result of a cholera-like infection that was exacerbated by her extreme diet.

Vera said: ‘Over the past month, I have been so exhausted because I understood that Zhanna was about to die, but still I could not help her in any way.’

Ms Samsonova’s mother then said she urged her daughter to return to her native Moscow where she could receive medical treatment and regain strength.

She said: ‘My daughter’s life has turned into a nightmare. Our last conversation together was this: “Zhanna, you need to go to Moscow. Now enzymes can be introduced little by little only in the hospital, under supervision, you yourself will not be able to do this, there will be rejection.” 

‘And, it was a miracle that she seemed to be beginning to hear me and she agreed with me, she said: “Yes, I was so mistaken,”’ Vera told newizv.ru.

Ms Samsonova’s official cause of death has not yet been determined as her mother fights to get her body back to Russia amid bureaucratic delays. 

Vera said she had ‘fought for years’ to encourage her daughter to seek help and to eat a more healthy diet, but Ms Samsonova, who had over 10,000 Instagram followers and had been travelling across Asia for the past 17 years, had refused. 

‘She is already dead, she is no more,’ Vera told Russian media. ‘Please stop writing bad things, it hurts be a lot. She chose this path. I fought for many years [but] she did not listen to her mother.’ 

The 39-year-old’s friends have revealed they were ‘horrified’ at her emaciated appearance and begged her to get help from doctors – but she refused and carried on with her diet of raw plant-based foods.

There were periods when Ms Samsonova would practice ‘dry fasting’ – where she would refuse to eat or drink anything for days.

She shared a selfie in a chilling final Instagram post days before her death in which she wrote: ‘Life is meaningless but worth living provided you recognise it’s meaningless.’

In the final months of her life, Ms Samsonova’s friends had desperately urged her to get help and eat more substantive foods – but they said it was ‘impossible’ to get her to speak to doctors or eat anything other than raw fruit and vegetables.

Olga Chernyaeva , one of the influencer’s friends, told the Russian newspaper Novye Izvestia: ‘I watched her journey to death for seven years. About five months ago, I met Zhanna in Sri Lanka and she had a haggard look. 

‘Her legs were swollen… It was amazing that she was still moving – I think she did it through pain.’

Ms Chernyaeva added: ‘I tried to talk to her, to convince her to seek help from doctors, to take tests. I showed her her body in the mirror and in photographs of past years. But Zhanna’s character was not simple, it was impossible to convince her on certain issues.’ 

Her devastated friend said that she watched helplessly as Ms Samsonova became ‘only bones’ and was left practically bed-bound.

Ms Chernyaeva said: ‘She was in bed for almost a month. If she got up, it was very difficult for her to walk – it took several minutes to overcome one step of the stairs.

‘I brought her fruits every morning – it was impossible to get her to eat something else. Boolean arguments didn’t work. Zhanna believed that death does not exist.’ 

Another of Ms Samsonova’s friends, who she met in Thailand, told Russian news outlet 116.ru: ‘It was scary to look at her, to be honest, her hands were like those of my 12-year-old sister, thin.’ 

Another friend said they saw Ms Samsonova a few months ago in Sri Lanka ‘looking exhausted’. 

‘They sent her home to seek treatment. However, she ran away again. When I saw her in Phuket, I was horrified,’ they said.

‘I lived one floor above her and every day I feared finding her lifeless body in the morning. I convinced her to seek treatment, but she didn’t make it,’ the friend added.

Another friend said: ‘Ms Samsonova’s idle starvation was causing her to melt before our eyes, but she believed everything was fine.

‘Only her eyes, merry eyes, and gorgeous hair compensated for the dreadful sight of a body tortured by idiocy. Forgive me if it sounds harsh.’

Ms Samsonova refused to listen to their warnings and it proved fatal after she reportedly died of an infection and exhaustion exacerbated by her raw food diet.

The food blogger’s mother Vera Samsonova told local news outlets Ms Samsonova was supposed to fly home to Kazan on the day of her death. 

Vera did not approve of her daughter’s extreme diet and tried to convince her to introduce more balanced eating habits but she refused.

Ms Samsonova moved from veganism to a purely raw food diet consisting of vegetables and fruit, with the influencer sharing what she described as ‘healthy ‘ recipes on her Instagram profile.

The influencer, who appeared increasingly emaciated in her social media videos as time went on, would post footage of her eating her lunch which consisted of a whole melon and carrot juice at times. 

In another video, Ms Samsonova told her Instagram followers how she was having cherry tomatoes, an avocado and avocado juice for lunch. 

‘Despite the fact that I cook fancy raw dishes, I eat very simply myself. My food is simple, no oil, no salt, no dehydrated food and no protein,’ Ms Samsonova wrote in a post. ‘Today for lunch I have delicious avocado kefir, sweet cherry tomatoes and ripe avocado. Bon appetit.’

One person commented on Ms Samsonova’s recent post and wrote: ‘This is just pure starvation, not a healthy raw vegan diet. I’m sorry to hear it ended badly. I wish I could have helped you out of your eating disorder.’

Ms Samsonova had been following a vegan diet for about more than 15 years starting out by allowing herself fish and dairy occasionally. 

However over the years, her restrictive eating became more and more extreme and she eventually only ate raw fruit and vegetables alongside juice. 

She had claimed that her ten years on a raw plant-based had meant she was ‘in perfect health’ and ‘never got the usual seasonal cold’.

But in 2021, Ms Samsonova travelled back to her native Russia for the first time in nine years but immediately fell ill with coronavirus. 

Ms Samsonova said she had ‘ignored’ all Covid precautions before becoming infected and bizarrely claimed she ‘cured’ herself of the virus by dry fasting – where she did not drink or eat anything for more than ten days.

She wrote on Instagram: ‘I was the category of people who wasn’t afraid to get infected with viruses and ignored all the precautions, because over the past ten years on raw plant-based diets I was in perfect health and I didn’t even get the usual seasonal cold.

‘And ironically… I still got sick [with Covid] and was in bed for ten days.’ 

Ms Samsonova then went on to bizarrely claim: ‘I began to cure myself with dry fasting, since for a long time I have been practicing this method, as I can cure all ailments.

‘The illness gradually began to recede, already the days of dry hunger and I was getting better and better every day… The most critical time is behind me I have overcome this disease despite my unconventional treatment which many condemn.’

If you need help and support, you can talk in confidence to advisors at the charity Beat Eating Disorders by calling its adult helpline on 0808 801 0677 or youth helpline on 0808 801 0711. 

You can visit their website here: https://www.beateatingdisorders.org.uk/get-information-and-support/get-help-for-myself/i-need-support-now/helplines/

A 39-year-old mother from Texas has become the sixth victim of a fungus linked to botched cosmetic surgeries in Mexico, DailyMail.com can reveal.

Jody Adkins died last week from fungal meningitis — a rare, life-threatening infection that causes swelling of areas around the brain and spinal cord — after traveling to northern Mexico for cut-price ‘mommy makeover’ procedures.

Mrs Adkins, described as a ‘sweetheart’ and ‘beautiful woman’ by friends and family, leaves behind two daughters — Skyler West and Adelyn, and her husband, Joe.

Health officials believe the fungal outbreak may have come from unsterilized equipment or black-market morphine used at two Mexican clinics.

Mrs Adkins is one of six Americans who have died from the infection, including mom-of-four Lauren Robinson, who received a boob job, liposuction and Brazilian butt lift (BBL) and mom-of-one Shyanne Medrano, who underwent liposuction and a BBL. A further death of a Mexican patient has also occurred, according to local news media.

Medical tourism is a booming industry in Mexico, with around 1.2million Americans traveling south for affordable care each year – nearly double the figure a decade ago.

Hundreds of Americans who traveled to clinics in Matamoros this year could be at risk, based on lists of people who attended the clinics Clinica-K3 or Riverside Surgical Center. 

The fungus isolated in the two clinics appears to be Fusarium solani, which was linked to a previous meningitis outbreak in Durango, Mexico, late last year.

According to the CDC, that outbreak, which was also linked to epidural anesthetic procedures, had an almost 50 percent mortality rate with those infections — with 39 deaths among 80 cases.

The new outbreak is thought to be due to contaminated epidural equipment, used in procedures such as a BBL, or dodgy morphine.

Mrs Adkins, from the town of Kountze, east of Houston, died on 21 June at the Memorial Hermann Hospital in Houston.

She had traveled to a clinic in Matamoros, a city that borders Texas and was just seven hours away from her home.

The victims of the latest outbreak have paid up to $5,000 for their surgeries, a fraction of the price they would pay in the US.

Health officials have been able to reach roughly half of the 230 people who received surgery at either clinic since the start of the year. The outbreak began on June 1, 2023.

Both clinics were closed in May. But if other confirmed cases are found at other facilities, the number at risk could be much higher.

The CDC is urging everyone who received surgery with an epidural (injection into the spine to numb part of the body) at either clinic this year to go to the nearest emergency room as soon as possible to be evaluated, even if they do not have symptoms.

The epidural is used in procedures such as liposuction, breast augmentation and Brazilian butt lifts, which can be more than $16,000 cheaper than in the US.

Dr Luis Manuel Rivera De Anda performed Ms Robinson and Ms Medrano’s surgeries. 

His Instagram shows a plethora of before and after surgery photos for liposuction, BBLs, and breasts and promotes an offer of full liposuction, a BBL and breast augmentation for 5,000 USD.

If a woman got these surgeries done in the US, it could set them back up to $20,000.

It is unknown whether the women’s infections had anything to do with Dr Rivera De Anda’s actions.

Chris Van Deusen from Texas Department of Health told DailyMail.com that while most of the cases have been women, some have also been men.

He said: ‘If anybody knows of somebody who may have gone to Matamoros to get surgery, let them know that they could be affected by this and to know what to look out for and they can certainly contact either us at the state or their local health department in their area to get more information.’

In its latest update, the CDC said it is investigating 172 people who may have the infection.

There have been six deaths. Five of these are confirmed cases, and one is a probable case. There is now a total of nine confirmed cases, up from six.

The patients being overseen by the CDC reported symptoms including headaches, fever, stiff neck, nausea, vomiting, confusion, and sensitivity to light.

Dr Tom Chiller, head of the fungal diseases branch at the CDC, told DailyMail.com that he wouldn’t be surprised if the death count doubles.

He said: ‘I anticipate more are coming unfortunately… it’s so critical to get people in as early as possible and it’s not really too late. 

‘I think so far longest period from time of procedure to symptoms has been up to 50 days.

‘Fungi just have these long indolent periods sometimes and we’re not sure why and so it’s really not too late, we want people to get in and be evaluated.’

Dr Chiller added that the agency does not know the exact source of the fungal meningitis yet, and ‘we may never know it, unfortunately.’

He said the CDC is open to the fact that the infection could have occurred in other clinics. Currently, the source of the infection is thought to be the morphine provided to patients by anesthesiologists.

Dr Chiller said said: ‘From my understanding, there are many anesthesiologists that visit these different clinics, and each anesthesiologist brings in their own medicines and performs their own manner of anesthesia. 

‘[Mexico has] been trying to talk with anesthesiologists because that’s probably where the risk [is]. I mean, that’s where the risk was. Either the medicines [that] were used or the practices used. I think that Mexico has been trying to figure that out… they are trying to make efforts to speak with anesthesiologists, understand their practices, and if there are problems, try to improve those practices.’

The brain infection is not isolated to one particular surgeon, he said. 

Dr Chiller said: ‘I’m not at all concerned about the surgical procedure itself, or the way they perform the surgery, or the liposuction, or the butt lifts. 

‘We haven’t had a single issue with the particular surgery. It’s all in the meninges [membranes that enclose the brain and spinal cord]. It’s all in this space, where the only thing that is going in there is the epidural.’

‘We think, based on what they’re telling us, that there are two different medicines being used. There’s an anesthetic and then there’s the analgesic. The anesthetic is to numb things, the analgesic is [to help with] pain, and that’s the morphine. 

‘The anesthetic being used is widely distributed across Mexico, so we would think we would be seeing other patients with this, if there were lots are contaminated batches, unless it was particularly distributed to Matamoros. But Mexicans are saying that that doesn’t seem to be the case. 

‘If that’s not the case, [it could be] the analgesic. [The Mexicans] are telling us that morphine is scarce and hard to get, so there may be black or gray markets that are producing this stuff in a non-regulated way. People may be thinking they’re getting legitimate morphine and they’re not. That’s still very unclear to us.’

He added: ‘If that’s the case, then it could be contaminated morphine that anesthesiologists are purchasing. They may be sourcing it from a place that has got bad manufacturing, and there are some contaminated batches. That’s one possibility. 

‘The other possibility is the machinery used to do the catheter and the epidural is somehow contaminated at these two clinics. That seems less likely to me because then I think we would be seeing a lot of infections altogether until it was cleaned, but you never know with fungi.

‘Finally, just the procedure of mixing the drugs potentially, in the hands of the anesthesiologist, there could have been challenges there. Honestly… I just don’t know if we’ll ever know.’

According to local Mexican news outlet Expreso.press, the Mexican patient who died suffered intolerance to medication meaning the dose had to be lowered, which caused the infection to fatally activate.

Two other patients are hospitalized at High Specialty Regional Hospital (HRAE) in Victoria, Mexico.

The Tamaulipas health secretary Vicente Joel Hernández Navarro said: ‘We have to keep an eye on them for more than six months, we cannot claim victory yet, and we ask them not to go [very far].’