A Paediatric Doctor from Sale has written a children’s book after being diagnosed with a severe form of brain tumour and it’s inspired by his own son.
Dad-of-one Aria Nikjooy was diagnosed with a Grade 4 Cerebellar Medulloblastoma in November 2018.
He started suffering from crippling headaches – which he initially put down to tiredness and stress – and went through brain surgery, radiotherapy and chemotherapy.
The tumour was kept at bay until March 2020, but it sadly came back and he underwent a second craniotomy, and then devastatingly, another recurrence came again in July 2020, which resulted in another operation and more cancer treatment.
Aria spent two-and-half months in Salford Royal Hospital recovering from his first brain surgery.
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The operation left him with debilitating after effects – including profuse nausea and vomiting lasting several weeks, which doctors struggled to manage with medication – and he also struggled to speak and had to learn to walk again.
During his hospital stay, he was transferred to The Christie.
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There, he went through six gruelling weeks of radiotherapy as an in-patient, and was finally discharged in January 2019 to begin an intense course of chemotherapy.
Speaking to ITV Granada Reports on his journey, Aria said: “I’d had three out of six cycles of chemo when I started to think enough was enough. Although I seemed to be getting better overall, there are some nasty long-term effects from chemo that I was eager to avoid, like infertility or an increased risk of future cancer.
“My cancer is a rare beast that usually affects children, not adults, therefore, there isn’t much research into what treatments work, and which don’t for me.
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“I eventually decided to stop after four cycles.”
A year after his diagnosis, Aria was able to return to work on the paediatric rheumatology ward at the Royal Manchester Children’s Hospital on a part-time basis, but only a few months later – in March 2020, just before the UK entered into the first national lockdown – his cancer came back.
Aria was then instructed to self-isolate as he was deemed ‘high-risk’, and underwent a second brain surgery.
He recovered well – returning home after just three nights in hospital – and began another course of radiotherapy, followed by a different type of chemotherapy to try to prevent any tumour regrowth, but the treatment sadly didn’t work and came back once again in July 2020.
Showing true Mancunian fighting spirit though, Aria has once again recovered well from his second ‘lockdown’ brain surgery.
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Now, Aria – who has always had an interest in writing – has written his very own fiction book as part of his recovery and personal therapy to read with his three-year-old son, which covers the difficult topics of illness and cancer in a toddler-friendly way.
The book – which is illustrated by JMZ – is titled Eddie and the Magic Healing Stone.
Aria said: “It tells the story of Eddie the dinosaur, who finds himself in trouble when he goes out for a walk. It’s up to Larry the Lion to find the Magic Healing Stone and save his dad before it’s too late.
“This book is about Eddie and Larry’s special relationship, and gently introduces the concept of sickness [so] I hope little ones will enjoy it,
“Regardless of whether they are dealing with an ill parent or not.
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“It is also just an entertaining story for young children, full of magic and silly characters.”
Eddie and the Magic Healing Stone is available at a number of leading book retailers, and you can also get your hands on it via Amazon here.
UK’s hottest binmen wanted for charity calendar and you can nominate them now
Emily Sergeant
Do you know someone who looks hot in high-vis, beautiful behind the wheel of a bin truck, or elegant while emptying the bins?
Well now is their time to shine.
That’s because, waste management experts BusinessWaste.co.uk has launched a new – and rather unique – nationwide search to find ‘Britain’s buffest binman’, celebrating the men and women who do one of the UK’s toughest and most overlooked jobs.
Bin workers do a job that many of us take for granted, but without them, our streets would be dirty, littered with bin bags, and attracting pests.
That’s why this new competition is aiming to shine a spotlight on them at a time when the waste sector faces a shortage of bin workers, as it’s more important than ever to recognise the people who keep the systems running.
The competition will crown the UK’s best-looking bin workers – with 12 winners featuring in a limited-edition charity calendar for 2026.
The UK’s hottest binmen are wanted for a charity calendar and you can nominate them now / Credit: Supplied
Bin workers of all genders, ages, and backgrounds are welcome to apply, and you don’t even have to work on a bin lorry itself, it can be anyone behind the scenes too.
Crucially though, the aim of the competition is to raise money for charity, and this year, funds raised from the calendar will be in aid of FareShare – an organisation focused on fighting hunger and tackling food waste.
FareShare’s vision is for ‘no good food goes to waste’, and so it works to redistribute surplus food to charities that turn it into meals.
Ultimately, this tongue-in-cheek campaign is a chance for the waste sector to have some light-hearted fun.
Keen to enter then? Or know someone who needs to be a part of the calendar? You can nominate yourself, a friend, or a loved one, and all you need to do is just ensure the nominee is happy to be entered and fill in a short form online.
You can enter, and read the full terms and conditions here.
Featured Image – Supplied
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Britain’s least favourite chores have been revealed according to new survey
Emily Sergeant
Washing up, dusting, taking the bins out – we’re really not short of household chores to dislike, let’s be honest.
Doing the chores is, well, a chore… or is it? Surprisingly though, a new YouGov poll says different, as it’s been revealed that there are only a few household tasks that large numbers of Britons actively loathe, with many more liked that disliked, in fact.
While it probably has to be said that most chores and household tasks are not exactly what we’d choose to spend our time doing, the reality is they have to be done whether we like it or not.
The new survey, however, has revealed the some of us do actually ‘like’ it though.
YouGov asked a total of 2287 British adults for their opinions on a selection of chores in a bid to find out what the best and worst household task is.
/ Credit: Pixahive | Haberdoedas II (via Unsplash)
Cooking came out on top as the most popular chore of those polled, with a clear majority of Brits (57%) saying they like rustling up a meal, alongside a further 21% who neither like nor dislike it, and only 18% saying it’s a task they openly dislike.
Nearly half of Brits (46%) say they enjoy decluttering or clearing out their house, alongside 24% who are not bothered either way. Similarly, 40% say they like tidying up, with nearly as many (35%) neither liking nor disliking it.
In both cases, only roughly a quarter (22-27%) actively dislike making things neat and tidy.
On the other end of the spectrum, the chore that takes the top spot for being the most disliked across the board is ironing.
Taking the bins out is the chore that most divides men and women, with women nearly twice as likely to dislike doing it
Cleaning bathroom: 49% women vs 42% men Ironing: 48% vs 37% Dusting: 43% vs 38% Taking bins out: 42% vs 22% Washing up: 38% vs 24% Cleaning kitchen: 32% vs 28%… pic.twitter.com/Obfk89yhqp
Four housework staples stand out as having the fewest outright fans – ironing, cleaning the bathroom, dusting, and taking the bins out, with just one in six Brits (16-18%) claiming to like doing any of them.
Although similar numbers of survey respondents dislike dusting, ironing, or cleaning the bathroom (41-45%), it’s ironing that has the strongest claim to being the most-hated chore overall, as not only do a higher proportion say they dislike it a lot (25% vs 16-18% for the other two chores), roughly three times as many Brits avoid doing the ironing altogether (20% vs 7%).
This makes it the only chore where the number of dislikers (43%) outnumber the combined total of those with a positive or neutral opinion of the chore (37%).
How does gender come into the conversation? Well, taking the bins out is the chore polled with the biggest gender divide.
According to YouGov, while men are equally likely to say they like (24%) and dislike taking the bins out (22%), only 9% of women say they relish the task, which is relative to 42% of them who dislike having to do it.