The parents of twins boys who have spent their entire lives in hospital have been delighted with the news they will be allowed home in time for Christmas.
Brothers Carter and Deacon Farnworth have finally been discharged from hospital.
The two-year-old twins – from Leigh in the Greater Manchester borough of Wigan – have sadly been unable to live at home since birth due to their various complex health conditions.
They were born prematurely in September 2018 and suffer from congenital myopathy – a rare muscle disease which causes the muscles to weaken and waste away – meaning the boys are fed through tubes, need 24/7 support from ventilators, and require constant care to manage their posture and positioning.
But now, thanks to ground-breaking specialist equipment, the twins will get to spend Christmas at home for the first time ever.
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Parents Melissa Anderton and Dean Farnworth said their homecoming had “saved Christmas”.
It’s all thanks to Newlife – a charity supporting disabled and terminally-ill children across the UK that delivers loan equipment within just 72 hours and can approve “fast-track” equipment grant applications within 24 hours when an emergency situation has been identified – which has provided the family with an emergency loan of specialist cots.
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The boys’ mother, Melissa Anderton, said: “It’s just amazing, it means everything – it’s our best Christmas and that’s all I can explain it as. The specialist cots from Newlife have allowed us to be one as a family, we don’t know what we would have done without them.
“Carter and Deacon being able to come out of hospital meant so much, it saved our Christmas.
“The P Pod chairs have been a godsend. Now the twins can move around the house and be included and take part in things altogether as a family, we can all sit together and relax and spend quality time together knowing that Carter and Deacon are comfortable and happy.
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“It’s been very stressful and there has been a lot of strain on the relationship, but it’s been good to experience the things we have because that’s made us who we are now.”
Now, the family are looking to give back ahead of the festive season.
After it was revealed that Newlife has lost more than £3 million in income due to the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic, the Farnworth’s are urging others to donate to change another child’s life this Christmas by backing the charity’s The Big Give Christmas Challenge campaign.
Any money raised through the challenge will provide essential equipment to disabled and terminally ill children who are in desperate need of support through the charity’s Emergency Equipment Loan service, and what’s more is that between 1st – 8th December, all donations will be doubled too.
Newlife is determined to help those families in need.
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Sheila Brown OBE – co-founder and CEO of Newlife – said: “It’s been a really difficult six months for Newlife after the coronavirus forced us to shut all of our shops in March and again in October. We lost more than £3m in income but our promise of supporting disabled children across the UK has not been compromised and we’ve been there for families when they need us most.
“A lot of the disabled children who need our help are at most risk of the effects of COVID-19 and right now they need us more than ever.
“Newlife wants to be there for future families who need specialist equipment and we can’t thank Carter and Deacon and family enough for backing our Big Give Christmas Challenge this year. It’s a fantastic way to make your donation have double the impact and we’re hoping our wonderful supporters will be able to dig deep this year.
“Regardless of the size of the donation, your generosity will be directly changing the lives of disabled children and their families across the UK who are in urgent need of our support.”
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You can make donations to The Big Give Christmas Challenge via the Newlife website here.
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Manchester ranked among the worst UK cities for throwing away food at Christmas
Emily Sergeant
A new survey has ranked Manchester among the worst cities in the UK when it comes to throwing away leftover food at Christmas.
If there’s one thing we know for certain, it’s that a lot of food gets consumed during Christmas time, but unfortunately, what then comes along with that, is a lot of food getting thrown away too – with a new study revealing that British families are expected to bin nearly £300 million worth of festive food this year alone.
And sadly, Manchester has been named one of the top festive food waste hotspots.
Ahead of the festive season, leading electricals retailer, AO.com, is on a mission to help Brits cut back on their food waste, as 54% of Mancs have admitted to chucking out leftovers.
The survey found that, on average, a British family spends £136 on their Christmas food shopping, but 11% of that goes to waste.
This equates to a whopping £292,822,360 in Christmas food waste in total this year.
With almost 78% of survey respondents saying they would prefer to have their meals at home during the Christmas period, rather than dining out, the research uncovered that a quarter of Brits often throw away their Brussels sprouts, while one in 10 even admitted to binning everyone’s festive favourite, pigs in blankets.
Manchester has ranked among the worst UK cities for throwing away food at Christmas / Credit: Freepik | Flickr
Other northern cities ranking alongside Manchester in the not-so-coveted list of highest festive food waste offenders include Newcastle and Sheffield.
The capitals of London, Edinburgh, and Belfast also feature.
The news that Manchester has been named a festive food waste capital comes after a shocking study, also by AO, revealed back in August that Mancs throw away more than £1,000 of ‘freezable’ food every year too.
Featured Image – gpointstudio (via Freepik)
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Tyson Fury says he hasn’t spoken to his wife in ‘three months’ whilst preparing for Usyk rematch
Danny Jones
Tyson Fury says hasn’t spoken to his wife Paris for three whole months while preparing for the much-anticipated Oleksandr Usyk rematch.
The Manc fighter is set to face the Ukrainian counterpart in the ‘Undisputed’ sequel, simply dubbed Fury vs Usyk 2, which will result in one unified heavyweight champion of the world.
Usyk’s victory over the Wythenshawe-born boxer back in May saw him take that title for the first time since 1999 (the only man to have done so in the four-belt era) but with the rematch nearly upon us, Fury could be set to steal that title away from him.
With that in mind, the pressure has clearly been on ever since he lost the first bout and, according to Tyson himself, he hasn’t spoken to his wife Paris Fury for virtually a quarter of a year as part of his immensely strict training camp.
Speaking to TNT Sports ahead of the match this weekend, he claimed: “I haven’t spoke to Paris in three months – not a word. [I’ve] not spoke to anyone, I haven’t been on my phone.”
Explaining that he simply removed all distractions to get his head in the right space ahead of the title decider, ‘The Gypsy King’ has been known to isolate himself from the rest of the world before a big fight in the past, but cutting contact with your spouse of 10 years and partner for nearly two decades is wild.
The 36-year-old went on to detail that in order to give himself the best shot at winning, he couldn’t keep switching between “beast mode to dad mode to wife mode” and so on.
In separate interviews with other outlets ahead of the highly-awaited rematch, Fury has made various other big claims about what boxing fans can expect from his own performance, including an admission that he needs to be “more focused this time and not do as much showboating” in the ring.
Nevertheless, he also assured the media that he isn’t a quitter and has promised he will not just “f*** up” his 37-year-old opponent but “retire” him. Usyk, on the other hand, has warned he will be a different challenge than the last time the two faced each other, predicting a knockout victory too.
Having downed Tyson more than once the last time around, he’s understandably confident of his chances.
Bold words from the pair of them, indeed, but this is all just part and parcel of the usual pre-fight build-up; all we really know is that Usyk won the previous face-off and Fury is the one with the point to prove.
While younger brother Tommy Fury recently had to pull out of his scheduled fight against Darren Till, during which tensions seriously boiled over during the first press conference, it looks as though there is no risk of more cancellations and any more ‘will they won’t they?’ antics between these two at least.
The rematch, or ‘Fury vs Usyk 2: Undisputed’ to give use its full title (the latest in Saudi Arabia’s growing fight scene and live sports programming as part of Riyadh Season) takes place this Saturday, 21 December, with the two set to clash once again from 10:25 GMT.
Who do you think will emerge victorious from this one and, more importantly, when do you think we’ll see the third and ‘final’ fight when they inevitably demand a trilogy?…
Emily Sergeant -
2nd December 2020 
