Tag: ‘never’
Hitting the Books: How can privacy survive in a world that never forgets?
As I write this, Amazon is announcing its purchase of iRobot, adding its room-mapping robotic vacuum technology to the company’s existing home surveillance suite, the Ring doorbell and prototype aerial drone. This is in addition to Amazon already knowing what you order online, what websites you visit, what foods you eat and, soon, every last scrap of personal medical data you possess. But hey, free two-day shipping, amirite?
The trend of our gadgets and infrastructure constantly, often invasively, monitoring their users shows little sign of slowing — not when there’s so much money to be made. Of course it hasn’t been all bad for humanity, what with AI’s help in advancing medical, communications and logistics tech in recent years. In his new book, Machines Behaving Badly: The Morality of AI, Scientia Professor of Artificial Intelligence at the University of New South Wales, Dr. Toby Walsh, explores the duality of potential that artificial intelligence/machine learning systems offer and, in the excerpt below, how to claw back a bit of your privacy from an industry built for omniscience.
Excerpted from Machines Behaving Badly: The Morality of AI by Toby Walsh. Published by La Trobe University Press. Copyright © 2022 by Toby Walsh. All rights reserved.
Privacy in an AI World
The Second Law of Thermodynamics states that the total entropy of a system – the amount of disorder – only ever increases. In other words, the amount of order only ever decreases. Privacy is similar to entropy. Privacy is only ever decreasing. Privacy is not something you can take back. I cannot take back from you the knowledge that I sing Abba songs badly in the shower. Just as you can’t take back from me the fact that I found out about how you vote.
There are different forms of privacy. There’s our digital online privacy, all the information about our lives in cyberspace. You might think our digital privacy is already lost. We have given too much of it to companies like Facebook and Google. Then there’s our analogue offline privacy, all the information about our lives in the physical world. Is there hope that we’ll keep hold of our analogue privacy?
The problem is that we are connecting ourselves, our homes and our workplaces to lots of internet-enabled devices: smartwatches, smart light bulbs, toasters, fridges, weighing scales, running machines, doorbells and front door locks. And all these devices are interconnected, carefully recording everything we do. Our location. Our heartbeat. Our blood pressure. Our weight. The smile or frown on our face. Our food intake. Our visits to the toilet. Our workouts.
These devices will monitor us 24/7, and companies like Google and Amazon will collate all this information. Why do you think Google bought both Nest and Fitbit recently? And why do you think Amazon acquired two smart home companies, Ring and Blink Home, and built their own smartwatch? They’re in an arms race to know us better.
The benefits to the companies our obvious. The more they know about us, the more they can target us with adverts and products. There’s one of Amazon’s famous ‘flywheels’ in this. Many of the products they will sell us will collect more data on us. And that data will help target us to make more purchases.
The benefits to us are also obvious. All this health data can help make us live healthier. And our longer lives will be easier, as lights switch on when we enter a room, and thermostats move automatically to our preferred temperature. The better these companies know us, the better their recommendations will be. They’ll recommend only movies we want to watch, songs we want to listen to and products we want to buy.
But there are also many potential pitfalls. What if your health insurance premiums increase every time you miss a gym class? Or your fridge orders too much comfort food? Or your employer sacks you because your smartwatch reveals you took too many toilet breaks?
With our digital selves, we can pretend to be someone that we are not. We can lie about our preferences. We can connect anonymously with VPNs and fake email accounts. But it is much harder to lie about your analogue self. We have little control over how fast our heart beats or how widely the pupils of our eyes dilate.
We’ve already seen political parties manipulate how we vote based on our digital footprint. What more could they do if they really understood how we respond physically to their messages? Imagine a political party that could access everyone’s heartbeat and blood pressure. Even George Orwell didn’t go that far.
Worse still, we are giving this analogue data to private companies that are not very good at sharing their profits with us. When you send your saliva off to 23AndMe for genetic testing, you are giving them access to the core of who you are, your DNA. If 23AndMe happens to use your DNA to develop a cure for a rare genetic disease that you possess, you will probably have to pay for that cure. The 23AndMe terms and conditions make this very clear:
You understand that by providing any sample, having your Genetic Information processed, accessing your Genetic Information, or providing Self-Reported Information, you acquire no rights in any research or commercial products that may be developed by 23andMe or its collaborating partners. You specifically understand that you will not receive compensation for any research or commercial products that include or result from your Genetic Information or Self-Reported Information.
A Private Future
How, then, might we put safeguards in place to preserve our privacy in an AI-enabled world? I have a couple of simple fixes. Some regulatory and could be implemented today. Others are technological and are something for the future, when we have AI that is smarter and more capable of defending our privacy.
The technology companies all have long terms of service and privacy policies. If you have lots of spare time, you can read them. Researchers at Carnegie Mellon University calculated that the average internet user would have to spend 76 work days each year just to read all the things that they have agreed to online. But what then? If you don’t like what you read, what choices do you have?
All you can do today, it seems, is log off and not use their service. You can’t demand greater privacy than the technology companies are willing to provide. If you don’t like Gmail reading your emails, you can’t use Gmail. Worse than that, you’d better not email anyone with a Gmail account, as Google will read any emails that go through the Gmail system.
So here’s a simple alternative. All digital services must provide four changeable levels of privacy.
Level 1: They keep no information about you beyond your username, email and password.
Level 2: They keep information on you to provide you with a better service, but they do not share this information with anyone.
Level 3: They keep information on you that they may share with sister companies.
Level 4: They consider the information that they collect on you as public.
And you can change the level of privacy with one click from the settings page. And any changes are retrospective, so if you select Level 1 privacy, the company must delete all information they currently have on you, beyond your username, email and password. In addition, there’s a requirement that all data beyond Level 1 privacy is deleted after three years unless you opt in explicitly for it to be kept. Think of this as a digital right to be forgotten.
I grew up in the 1970s and 1980s. My many youthful transgressions have, thankfully, been lost in the mists of time. They will not haunt me when I apply for a new job or run for political office. I fear, however, for young people today, whose every post on social media is archived and waiting to be printed off by some prospective employer or political opponent. This is one reason why we need a digital right to be forgotten.
More friction may help. Ironically, the internet was invented to remove frictions – in particular, to make it easier to share data and communicate more quickly and effortlessly. I’m starting to think, however, that this lack of friction is the cause of many problems. Our physical highways have speed and other restrictions. Perhaps the internet highway needs a few more limitations too?
One such problem is described in a famous cartoon: ‘On the internet, no one knows you’re a dog.’ If we introduced instead a friction by insisting on identity checks, then certain issues around anonymity and trust might go away. Similarly, resharing restrictions on social media might help prevent the distribution of fake news. And profanity filters might help prevent posting content that inflames.
On the other side, other parts of the internet might benefit from fewer frictions. Why is it that Facebook can get away with behaving badly with our data? One of the problems here is there’s no real alternative. If you’ve had enough of Facebook’s bad behaviour and log off – as I did some years back – then it is you who will suffer most. You can’t take all your data, your social network, your posts, your photos to some rival social media service. There is no real competition. Facebook is a walled garden, holding onto your data and setting the rules. We need to open that data up and thereby permit true competition.
For far too long the tech industry has been given too many freedoms. Monopolies are starting to form. Bad behaviours are becoming the norm. Many internet businesses are poorly aligned with the public good.
Any new digital regulation is probably best implemented at the level of nation-states or close-knit trading blocks. In the current climate of nationalism, bodies such as the United Nations and the World Trade Organization are unlikely to reach useful consensus. The common values shared by members of such large transnational bodies are too weak to offer much protection to the consumer.
The European Union has led the way in regulating the tech sector. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and the upcoming Digital Service Act (DSA) and Digital Market Act (DMA) are good examples of Europe’s leadership in this space. A few nation-states have also started to pick up their game. The United Kingdom introduced a Google tax in 2015 to try to make tech companies pay a fair share of tax. And shortly after the terrible shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019, the Australian government introduced legislation to fine companies up to 10 per cent of their annual revenue if they fail to take down abhorrent violent material quickly enough. Unsurprisingly, fining tech companies a significant fraction of their global annual revenue appears to get their attention.
It is easy to dismiss laws in Australia as somewhat irrelevant to multinational companies like Google. If they’re too irritating, they can just pull out of the Australian market. Google’s accountants will hardly notice the blip in their worldwide revenue. But national laws often set precedents that get applied elsewhere. Australia followed up with its own Google tax just six months after the United Kingdom. California introduced its own version of the GDPR, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), just a month after the regulation came into effect in Europe. Such knock-on effects are probably the real reason that Google has argued so vocally against Australia’s new Media Bargaining Code. They greatly fear the precedent it will set.
That leaves me with a technological fix. At some point in the future, all our devices will contain AI agents helping to connect us that can also protect our privacy. AI will move from the centre to the edge, away from the cloud and onto our devices. These AI agents will monitor the data entering and leaving our devices. They will do their best to ensure that data about us that we don’t want shared isn’t.
We are perhaps at the technological low point today. To do anything interesting, we need to send data up into the cloud, to tap into the vast computational resources that can be found there. Siri, for instance, doesn’t run on your iPhone but on Apple’s vast servers. And once your data leaves your possession, you might as well consider it public. But we can look forward to a future where AI is small enough and smart enough to run on your device itself, and your data never has to be sent anywhere.
This is the sort of AI-enabled future where technology and regulation will not simply help preserve our privacy, but even enhance it. Technical fixes can only take us so far. It is abundantly clear that we also need more regulation. For far too long the tech industry has been given too many freedoms. Monopolies are starting to form. Bad behaviours are becoming the norm. Many internet businesses are poorly aligned with the public good.
Digital regulation is probably best implemented at the level of nation-states or close-knit trading blocks. In the current climate of nationalism, bodies such as the United Nations and the World Trade Organization are unlikely to reach useful consensus. The common values shared by members of such large transnational bodies are too weak to offer much protection to the consumer.
The European Union has led the way in regulating the tech sector. The General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR), and the upcoming Digital Service Act (DSA) and Digital Market Act (DMA) are good examples of Europe’s leadership in this space. A few nation-states have also started to pick up their game. The United Kingdom introduced a Google tax in 2015 to try to make tech companies pay a fair share of tax. And shortly after the terrible shootings in Christchurch, New Zealand, in 2019, the Australian government introduced legislation to fine companies up to 10 per cent of their annual revenue if they fail to take down abhorrent violent material quickly enough. Unsurprisingly, fining tech companies a significant fraction of their global annual revenue appears to get their attention.
It is easy to dismiss laws in Australia as somewhat irrelevant to multinational companies like Google. If they’re too irritating, they can just pull out of the Australian market. Google’s accountants will hardly notice the blip in their worldwide revenue. But national laws often set precedents that get applied elsewhere. Australia followed up with its own Google tax just six months after the United Kingdom. California introduced its own version of the GDPR, the California Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), just a month after the regulation came into effect in Europe. Such knock-on effects are probably the real reason that Google has argued so vocally against Australia’s new Media Bargaining Code. They greatly fear the precedent it will set.
‘Ukrainians never give up’ – Volodymyr Zelensky hails Oleksandr Usyk’s ‘important and necessary’ win over Anthony Joshua
VOLODYMYR ZELENSKY has hailed Oleksandr Usyk’s brilliant victory over Anthony Joshua.
The Ukrainian president, 44, gushed with pride over his compatriot’s amazing triumph against a game AJ.
Volodymyr Zelensky was full of praise for Usyk[/caption]
Usyk, 35, beat Joshua via split decision, surviving a ninth-round onslaught to wrestle back control of the bout.
Hoping to inspire the people of war-torn Ukraine, Zelensky tweeted: “Difficult, but so important and necessary VICTORY @usykaa!
“Defending the title of the world champion is a symbol of the fact that all Cossacks will not give up theirs, will fight for it and will definitely win!”
Usyk dedicated his victory to his compatriots, saying after the fight: “I did this victory for my country, for all people, militaries who are defending the country. Thank you very, very much.
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“This is already historic. Many generations are going to watch this fight, especially the round when someone tried to beat me hard, but I withstood it and turned it in a different way.”
On what’s next, Usyk added: “I’m sure that Tyson Fury is not retired yet.
“I’m sure, I’m convinced he wants to fight me.
“I want to fight him and if I’m not fighting Tyson Fury, I’m not fighting at all.”
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After the bout, Joshua threw Usyk’s belts out of the ring, storming off before bizarrely returning and grabbing the mic.
Upon his return, AJ bellowed: “If you knew my story you would understand the passion.
“I ain’t no amateur boxer from five-years-old that was an elite prospect from youth.
“I was going to jail, I got bail and I started training my a*** off, I wanted to be able to fight.
“I’m stealing this Usyk I’m sorry, but it’s because of the passion we put into this.
“This guy to beat me tonight, maybe I could have done better, but it shows the level of hard work I put in so please give him a round of applause as our heavyweight champion of the world.”
Usyk, 35, dedicated his victory to his fellow countrymen and women[/caption]
CHRISTOPHER STEVENS reviews last night’s TV: Never laugh at a Land Girl with a 5ft serrated saw
You’ll never be as happy as this adorable wiggly-armed robot
Afghan contractors: ‘I wish I’d never worked for the UK government’
Nurse lists the five things she will NEVER do now that she has worked in ICU
I’m a Dollar Tree superfan, five things you should never buy and what to get instead
THIS Dollar Tree superfan has at least five things that you should never get from the store, as there may be better and more affordable options.
Dollar Tree expert Sarah, who goes by the handle @sensationalfinds on TikTok, recently posted a video detailing five separate items that aren’t worth the discount at your local Dollar Tree — along with suggesting some quality items to reach for instead.
Dollar Tree expert Sarah has a few items for shoppers to avoid[/caption]
The Dollar Tree flip-flops won’t last very long, per Sarah[/caption]
1. Shampoos and conditioners
According to Sarah, the Dollar Tree shampoos and conditioners may not be worth the low price.
It’s a low-quality issue that will come back to bite shoppers, Sarah explains.
“They don’t have great quality, it’s not great ingredients,” she claims.
Read More On Saving Money
Sarah instead recommends some deep conditioner packs that Dollar Tree has as well, as you don’t need to buy them nearly as often and most are name brand.
2. Flip-flops and sandals
Sarah says that Dollar Tree’s flip-flops and sandals are definitely something that you should refrain from grabbing as well.
“Unless you’re using them for just the shower, then these are not good quality, they don’t hold up, they don’t last,” Sarah claims.
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If you’re looking for a lasting sandal that will be more durable and last longer, another sandal from other department stores may be a better option, per Sarah.
For any beach needs, Sarah recommends that shoppers reach for Dollar Tree’s sunglasses instead, with better designs and quality for the price.
3. Batteries
The next item to avoid per Sarah’s recommendation are the Dollar Tree batteries.
She explains that shoppers are likely not getting enough charge for their buck — unless they’re grabbing the “high-drain” batteries.
These batteries that aren’t high-drain aren’t quality and don’t last nearly as long as others, according to Sarah.
4. Garbage bags
According to Sarah, the Dollar Tree trash bags are another item that should be avoided next time shoppers make a trip to the store.
“These are terrible quality, you don’t get many in there — they don’t last,” Sarah says.
She says that you should instead reach for Dollar Tree’s organizational bins.
5. Candles
Lastly, Sarah recommends that shoppers also avoid the Dollar Tree candles next time they head to the store as well.
“Stop buying them, they have no throw, they don’t last, they’re terrible,” Sarah explains.
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Per her experience, she says that shoppers should avoid the candles and instead reach for the odor absorbers that Dollar Tree also has.
Ultimately, Sarah believes that there can be better quality for the price on other items in the store and outside of it for your needs.
Sarah says that the Dollar Tree candles are something to leave behind next time you shop[/caption]
I was terrified when I fell pregnant at 46, I never thought I’d have kids – I was so scared I got an early C-section
A SUPRISE pregnancy at any age can be scary and disrupt your life plan, whether you’re 16 or 46.
Here two women share their stories of how their lives were changed forever by a pregnancy that happened when they least expected it.
‘I was terrified to be pregnant for the first time aged 46’
Victoria Cunningham, 47, a yoga teacher and Pilates instructor, lives in Glasgow with her fiancé Stuart Chalmers, 44, a packaging designer, and their 11-month-old son Alisdair.
“Seeing the two crossed lines appear in that small plastic window, my whole body started to shake.
Could my dream of becoming a mother finally be coming true – at the age of 46?
When I met my ex-husband Mark* in 2002, aged 27, and married him two years later, becoming a mum was the last thing on my mind.
I enjoyed my work teaching yoga and Pilates, and I loved the freedom I had to travel and see friends.
READ MORE ON PREGNANCY
I felt like there just wasn’t space in my life for children.
That certainly wasn’t an issue for Mark, who didn’t want us to have kids either.
Then, in my 30s, my biological clock kicked in. But Mark’s views hadn’t shifted, and it drove a wedge between us.
He was angry that I’d changed my mind, while I blamed him for the fact that my fertile years were ticking away.
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It was the major reason our marriage ended in 2017, after 13 years.
Single at 42, I was heartbroken that my dream of motherhood was over.
Mark and I hadn’t always used contraception, but I’d never had even a pregnancy scare. So I was sure that I was infertile.
But I hadn’t given up on love. Internet dating was rocky until, in August 2019 and, aged 44, I saw Stuart on Bumble.
He was 41, creative, funny, good-looking and, unlike most of the men online, seemed normal!
We shared a love of India and, after two weeks of messaging, he invited me over for chai tea.
We instantly clicked and things moved quickly. Within a month I told him I loved him, and he said it back two months later.
I moved into his place in February 2020, just before the pandemic began.
Even with all the fear and worry of Covid, we were so happy together.
As for children, Stuart would have loved to be a dad. But he hadn’t met the right person and I was clearly past childbearing age.
We knew that our future would be wonderful, but wouldn’t include kids, so after a few months of living together we stopped using contraception.
Then, at the end of January 2021, I realised that my period was late.
At first, I was sure that it was the peri-menopause, but when it still hadn’t started by early February, a tiny voice inside asked: ‘Could I be pregnant?’
Certain that it was a waste of time, I waited until Stuart was out at work and bought a test.
When the blue cross appeared almost instantly, it was like the world stopped.
I immediately messaged Stuart, who was shocked but delighted.
But after dreaming about having a child for so long, I found pregnancy terrifying.
I was told mine was a ‘geriatric pregnancy’, which meant there were increased risks for me and the baby.
Plus, Covid restrictions meant appointments were on my own and there were no antenatal classes.
By 37 weeks my anxiety was so bad that doctors agreed to an early caesarean.
When Alisdair roared into the world, weighing 6lb 2oz, it was love at first sight. Stuart was equally thrilled to finally become a dad.
Alisdair is my legacy. Being his mum has changed my life forever – and filled the hole in my heart.”
‘I found out I was having a baby two months into my A levels’
Vee Roberts, 43, is a brand and marketing consultant from Surrey.
“Sitting in the clinic waiting room, I was sure it was all a big mistake; that the nurse would tell me that my period would come; that there was no way I was 16 and pregnant.
When I was growing up, my mum Pauline, now 64, and dad Vince, 65, were strict.
I wasn’t allowed to go to sleepovers or attend prom. Mum had dreams for me to focus on school and have a fulfilling career.
I loved studying and was good at it. In 1990, aged 11, I moved to a private secondary school on a partial scholarship.
I was the first in my family to go to a private school and everyone was proud.
When I met my first boyfriend Jermaine* at a record shop in 1993, at 14, I fell hard.
He was the same age, respectful, smart and my family liked him. We believed we’d be together forever.
We started having sex after my 16th birthday and I went on the Pill.
I think Mum knew we were sleeping together, but we never spoke about it.
In September 1995, I started studying for my A levels at a new school and was hoping for a career in law.
But the following month, I realised my period was late.
Jermaine didn’t panic – neither of us really believed that I was pregnant, but I took a test to make sure.
When I saw the two blue lines appear, I was so shocked, I didn’t cry.
My future, which had seemed so certain, was suddenly up in the air.
How was I going to tell Mum? I called my granny Eulalee, 85, who was my cheerleader.
I could tell her anything and she wouldn’t judge. I blurted it out and she was amazing, telling me to come right over.
After we hugged, she told me that we’d make the best of it, that the family would support me. That gave me the strength to call Mum.
I was so nervous as the silence on the line stretched out, before she said that she was going to be a grandmother and that we’d speak when I got home.
Later, I could see her disappointment, but knew she’d help. The relief was immense.
Once I told Dad, who was also shocked but supportive, I felt more positive.
At first, I was able to continue my A levels.
But in mid-November I developed anaemia and had terrible sickness. Exhausted, I knew I had to leave school.
The rest of my pregnancy was hard. I watched friends studying and partying as my bump grew bigger.
By July 1996, I was two weeks overdue and just wanted my baby to be born.
After 11 agonising hours, my daughter Roshan was finally placed in my arms, and I felt a massive wave of love.
But the following months weren’t easy. I was a child with my own child, a mother living with my own mum.
Jermaine was a great dad and lived with his family nearby.
We were on and off for a long time, but we didn’t stay together, although he’s stayed in our lives and we are good friends.
I loved Roshan unconditionally, but I had dreams.
When she was three months old, I started A level sociology and AS level English at college in the evenings.
As well as studying, I worked for BT, fitting shifts in where I could.
In 2000, I began a degree in branding marketing communications and was so proud to graduate in 2003 when Roshan was seven.
Juggling it all was a struggle, but our mother/daughter relationship has been rock solid.
Roshan is now 26 and has grown into an amazing woman.
When I started my marketing business Insight2Marketing in 2013, she was my biggest supporter.
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Four years later, I saw her graduate from Bournemouth University with a first-class degree.
That surprise baby has become my best friend and one of my proudest achievements.”
*Names have been changed Photography: Getty Images
My £8k Turkey teeth saved my life, I only wanted a straighter smile but now I can never thank doctors enough
LISA Robinson, 44, a mental health nurse, lives in County Durham with her partner Michael, 56, a shift manager at a chemical plant, and daughters Jade, 24, and Leah, 18.
Here, she reveals how her Turkey teeth saved her life after losing her balance on her way to Turkish dental clinic.
“As I opened my eyes in intensive care, after an emergency 13-hour operation, the surgeon told me I was lucky to be alive. I reached up to touch my bandaged head and the words ‘fist-sized brain tumour’ came flooding back.
The doctors had said I only had a 25% chance of surviving the operation, so I took a deep breath and thanked my lucky stars I was still here.
Just days before, on June 24 of this year, I’d flown alone to Antalya, Turkey, for dental implants. But as I walked into the Magic Smile Turkey clinic, I lost my balance and fell backwards.
I was put in a taxi to the private Anadolu Hastanesi Hospital nearby, where doctors thought I was possessed, because my brown eyes had turned blue and began rolling in my head.
READ MORE ON TURKEY TEETH
Up to that point, life had been great. I was a fit gym-goer, loved my job as a nurse and enjoyed spending time with my partner Michael and my two beautiful daughters.
I was due to start a new job, but first, I was finally fixing a life-long insecurity by getting my teeth done. There wasn’t anything ‘wrong’ with them, but I wanted them straighter and to have a nicer smile.
I’d seen great results from people on social media going to Turkey for dental treatment, so I flew there in February, paying £6,000 for veneers on my top teeth.
They also removed some of the bottom ones and replaced them with posts ready for the £2,000 implants, which would be done during a return trip in June, once my gums had healed.
Most read in The Sun
Two weeks before that second visit, I started experiencing excruciating migraines, which my GP put down to the stress of leaving my job as a staff nurse.
Arriving at my hotel in Turkey, I went to bed at 11.30pm but woke at 3am, drenched in sweat. I rushed to the bathroom to tip cold water over myself. The next thing I knew, it was morning and I was lying in an empty bathtub – I must have fallen in and passed out.
As I staggered into the clinic later that day, I collapsed and was sent to hospital, where I underwent an MRI scan. By this stage, I was vomiting and screaming.
The scan revealed I had a deadly 4.5cm glioblastoma brain tumour and a haemorrhage, requiring immediate surgery.
In my delirious state, I managed to share Michael’s phone number with the interpreter before the anaesthetic kicked in. He dropped everything to fly over, and when I saw him the following day, I burst into tears.
I stayed in intensive care for four days, before being transferred to the critical care unit. The surgeon was happy with the op results after removing the majority of the tumour and said it was incredible I was alive.
Two weeks later, I was told by the hospital that my insurers had refused to pay out because I hadn’t declared that I’d sought help for headaches before travelling. I was asked to make a payment of £12,500 and told that the remaining balance of £45,000 was due by August 13, which was a huge shock.
Returning to Newcastle Airport on July 13, I was taken straight to the Royal Victoria Infirmary, where a consultant told me I had a grade 4 brain cancer. I couldn’t stop crying as I thought I was going to die.
The cancer is aggressive and incurable, but it is treatable and we have a plan of action. I’m having five sessions of radiotherapy for three weeks and then chemotherapy in tablet form, so we’re remaining positive about my future.
Read More on The Sun
My sister Sharon set up a JustGiving page to help raise the money for my medical bills – it’s already reached nearly £23,000 – and we’ve also held sponsored walks, family fun days and raffles to collect as much as possible.
I still need to find time for a trip to the dentist to get some better dentures for my bottom teeth, as they were never able to fit my implants. I’ll always be thankful to the surgeon in Turkey who saved my life and gave me this precious time with my family.”