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"Writing songs is my therapy": Ed Sheeran reveals further heartbreak

<p>In the wake of the tragic news of the <a href="https://www.oversixty.co.nz/news/news/tragedy-strikes-ed-sheeran-tour" target="_blank" rel="noopener">heartbreaking loss</a> suffered by his co-writer and touring partner, Ed Sheeran has taken to Instagram to share his struggle following a series of life-changing events – and how this has altered the course of his new album, Subtract.</p> <p>The singer shared how he “spiralled” into depression last year after his wife, Cherry, was diagnosed with a tumour during her second pregnancy, which couldn’t be treated until after she gave birth.</p> <p>The star explained that he was "trying to sculpt the perfect acoustic album" for almost a decade, when the series of events changed everything.</p> <p>“Writing songs is my therapy. It helps me make sense of my feelings. I wrote without thought of what the songs would be, I just wrote whatever tumbled out.</p> <p>“And in just over a week, I replaced a decade’s worth of work with my deepest darkest thoughts," he captioned.</p> <p>“Within the space of a month, my pregnant wife got told she had a tumour, with no route to treatment until after the birth.</p> <p>“My best friend Jamal [Edwards], a brother to me, died suddenly and I found myself standing in court defending my integrity and career as a songwriter. I was spiralling through fear, depression and anxiety.</p> <p>“I felt like I was drowning, head below the surface, looking up but not being able to break through for air".</p> <blockquote class="instagram-media" style="background: #FFF; border: 0; border-radius: 3px; box-shadow: 0 0 1px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.5),0 1px 10px 0 rgba(0,0,0,0.15); margin: 1px; max-width: 540px; min-width: 326px; padding: 0; width: calc(100% - 2px);" data-instgrm-captioned="" data-instgrm-permalink="https://www.instagram.com/p/CpPY7qyI6XB/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" data-instgrm-version="14"> <div style="padding: 16px;"> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; align-items: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 40px; margin-right: 14px; width: 40px;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 100px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 60px;"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="padding: 19% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: block; height: 50px; margin: 0 auto 12px; width: 50px;"> </div> <div style="padding-top: 8px;"> <div style="color: #3897f0; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: 550; line-height: 18px;">View this post on Instagram</div> </div> <div style="padding: 12.5% 0;"> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: row; margin-bottom: 14px; align-items: center;"> <div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(0px) translateY(7px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; height: 12.5px; transform: rotate(-45deg) translateX(3px) translateY(1px); width: 12.5px; flex-grow: 0; margin-right: 14px; margin-left: 2px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; height: 12.5px; width: 12.5px; transform: translateX(9px) translateY(-18px);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: 8px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 50%; flex-grow: 0; height: 20px; width: 20px;"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 2px solid transparent; border-left: 6px solid #f4f4f4; border-bottom: 2px solid transparent; transform: translateX(16px) translateY(-4px) rotate(30deg);"> </div> </div> <div style="margin-left: auto;"> <div style="width: 0px; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-right: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(16px);"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; flex-grow: 0; height: 12px; width: 16px; transform: translateY(-4px);"> </div> <div style="width: 0; height: 0; border-top: 8px solid #F4F4F4; border-left: 8px solid transparent; transform: translateY(-4px) translateX(8px);"> </div> </div> </div> <div style="display: flex; flex-direction: column; flex-grow: 1; justify-content: center; margin-bottom: 24px;"> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; margin-bottom: 6px; width: 224px;"> </div> <div style="background-color: #f4f4f4; border-radius: 4px; flex-grow: 0; height: 14px; width: 144px;"> </div> </div> <p style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; line-height: 17px; margin-bottom: 0; margin-top: 8px; overflow: hidden; padding: 8px 0 7px; text-align: center; text-overflow: ellipsis; white-space: nowrap;"><a style="color: #c9c8cd; font-family: Arial,sans-serif; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-weight: normal; line-height: 17px; text-decoration: none;" href="https://www.instagram.com/p/CpPY7qyI6XB/?utm_source=ig_embed&amp;utm_campaign=loading" target="_blank" rel="noopener">A post shared by Ed Sheeran (@teddysphotos)</a></p> </div> </blockquote> <p>The four-time Grammy award winner shared that this album was a "trapdoor" into his soul, and a way for him to make sense of everything he's been through.</p> <p><span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;">Sheeran</span><span style="font-family: -apple-system, BlinkMacSystemFont, 'Segoe UI', Roboto, Oxygen, Ubuntu, Cantarell, 'Open Sans', 'Helvetica Neue', sans-serif;"> </span>announced the birth of his second daughter, Jupiter, in May of last year.Subtract will be released on the 5th of May 2023, through Asylum/Atlantic.</p> <p><em>Image: Getty</em></p>

Caring

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Train driving dream comes true for brain tumour survivor

<p dir="ltr">Three years after doctors found a large tumour growing in his brain, seven-year-old Broly Blackmore has seen his dream of becoming a train driver come true.</p> <p dir="ltr">The young boy from Hallett, South Australia, had the tumour removed when he was just four years old after he collapsed and was rushed to hospital by helicopter.</p> <p dir="ltr">If it wasn’t removed that night, doctors told his mother, Corrine Maidment, that he wouldn’t make it.</p> <p dir="ltr">In the years since, Broly’s life has become relatively normal, albeit with regular brain scans and physio trips - and he has had his wish of driving a train granted by the Starlight Foundation.</p> <p dir="ltr">The seven-year-old went on a trip on the Pichi Richi steam train, travelling from Quorn to Port Augusta as a “trainee train driver”.</p> <p dir="ltr">"Ever since he was only a couple of months old everything has always been about trains … diesels aren't as good as steam trains apparently," Ms Maidment said, adding that he barely slept the night before the big day.</p> <p dir="ltr">"According to everyone in the train, they weren't allowed to do anything without his say so … at one point, he told the fireman, the guy who does the coal, 'That's my seat. I need to sit there'.</p> <p dir="ltr">"He was boss for the day." </p> <p dir="ltr">The Pichi Richi railway, an outback steam train experience that has been operating since 1973, later shared a sweet photo of Broly on the train.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Last Sunday, Pichi Richi Railway was able to grant a wish for a very special visitor, 7 year old Broly who was having his wish granted with help from Starlight Children's Foundation Australia’s ‘Wishgranting Program’,” the railway <a href="https://www.facebook.com/PichiRichiRailway/posts/pfbid032C45MeP339xWYPL321ZTFjXXsehYJh7pWe2xkX812DkCLCBZgZyp8UVNGVzF7ztvl">wrote</a>.</p> <p dir="ltr">“Broly loves trains so Starlight contacted Pichi Richi Railway and Broly was lucky enough to ride in the cab of engine W934 for the day with our crew on the Pichi Richi Explorer service. </p> <p dir="ltr">“A very special day for our crew, Broly and his family.”</p> <p dir="ltr">Although Broly’s wish was given to him while he was in hospital, Ms Maidment said they had waited until he was old enough to decide how he wanted to spend it.</p> <p dir="ltr">"He's had the wish sitting there since he was in the hospital ... but we wanted to wait until he was old enough to make a decision himself so he'd know what the wish was and he'd remember it," she said. </p> <p><span id="docs-internal-guid-4354a857-7fff-0466-bb9f-4dd255b3ba47"></span></p> <p dir="ltr"><em>Images: Blackmore family, Starlight Foundation, Pichi Richi Railway (Facebook)</em></p>

Caring

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Experimental treatment makes dog’s 11 cancerous tumours “disappear”

<p>Beloved rottweiler Griffin was given just three months to live after being diagnosed with a rare type of cancer. However, thanks to an experimental treatment in Queensland, he is still living years later after taking part in a clinical trial.</p> <p>His owner, Adam Johnson, noticed a lump in the back of Griffin’s neck in 2017.</p> <p>"I thought we'd take him for a routine check," Mr Johnson said to the<span> </span><em><a rel="noopener" href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-01/dog-cancer-tumours-experimental-treatment/11819284" target="_blank">ABC</a>.</em></p> <p>"It didn't seem like anything untoward, I just thought it would be medication and 'he'll be right' sort of thing.</p> <p>"A few days later we found out it was a cancerous lump.</p> <p>"It was devastating, absolutely devastating right before Christmas."</p> <p>Griffin the rottweiler was diagnosed with T-cell lymphoma and given three months to live.</p> <p>University of Queensland PhD candidate and veterinarian Dr Annika Oska said that the type of cancer Griffin was diagnosed with is usually a death sentence for dogs.</p> <p>"He had a really big lump taken off his side but by the time he went back to have his stitches removed from the original surgery, he had another three lumps, so they were growing really quickly," Dr Oksa said.</p> <p>Instead of going with the traditional route of chemotherapy, Dr Oska had another idea and enrolled Griffin in a medical trial that used immunotherapy treatment. This treatment is designed to “wake up” the dogs own immune system so the body recognises a foreign cancer.</p> <p>"With this one [trial] we make it specifically from the dog's own tumour," Dr Oksa said.</p> <p>"So it's very, very personalised and then we hope that the dog's own immune system will recognise the cancer and start fighting it."</p> <p>His owner was surprised at the results.</p> <p>"One by one, the cancerous lesions began to disappear to the point where two years on we've still got him here," Mr Johnson said.</p> <p>"At that point in time it felt like a Hail Mary.”</p> <p>Dr Oska said that researchers were encouraged by the results and that it could eventually be expanded into human trials for similar cancers.</p> <p>"We're hoping that this will be a way forward to include in the treatment protocol for these dogs.</p> <p>"We need to have more dogs in the trials obviously, so we have more evidence.</p> <p>"So at the same time we're researching what happens to the tumours, how do they respond to the vaccine — can we make any changes to it? Or combine it with different treatments."</p> <p><em>Photo credits: <a rel="noopener" href="https://www.abc.net.au/news/2020-01-01/dog-cancer-tumours-experimental-treatment/11819284" target="_blank">ABC</a>  </em></p>

Family & Pets

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Parents design homemade wheelchair for paralysed toddler

<p>To say Evelyn Moore has been through the wars would be an understatement. At just four months Evelyn was diagnosed with a spinal tumour that required urgent attention.</p> <p>But eight intensive rounds of chemotherapy took their toll on Evelyn’s young body and left her paralysed from the arms down. Her parents had been so preoccupied with the treatments they couldn’t get enough insurance to cover the cost of the wheelchair.</p> <p>But Evelyn’s mother Kim wasn’t going to give up that easy.</p> <p>After researching options online, Kim came across a do-it-yourself wheelchair for babies on Pinterest and asked her handyman husband Brad, if he could make it.</p> <p>It cost about $100 to make, but it did the trick and now at 13 months Evelyn is skilfully moving it around the home. She’s got such a gorgeous smile, it’s a terrible shame to think that she’s been through so much pain in her young life.</p> <p>But we’re sure with Evelyn’s fighting spirit and her parent’s ingenuity, she will be able to pull through. Leave any messages of support in the comments.</p> <p><em>Video credit: YouTube / The Canadian Press</em></p> <p><strong>Related links:</strong></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><a href="/health/caring/2016/08/wheelchair-allows-terminally-ill-patients-to-go-to-beach/"><strong>Smart wheelchair enables terminally ill patients to visit beach</strong></a></em></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><a href="/travel/travel-tips/2016/06/disabled-travel-blogger-anthony-tipling-bower/"><strong>Travel blogger aims to set ‘wheel’ in every country</strong></a></em></span></p> <p><span style="text-decoration: underline;"><em><a href="/travel/travel-tips/2016/08/managing-mobility-limitations-on-extended-trips/"><strong>Managing mobility limitations on extended trips</strong></a></em></span></p>

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