UAE Real Life

As part of my task to introduce real life pages to the magazine, I found and covered UAE stories, building up my contacts in the country to produce weekly features.

Award-Winning Work

I was excited to be named the UK finalist for the European Health Journalist Awards, for my work on the Evening Times Clear the Air campaign.
http://ec.europa.eu/health-eu/journalist_prize/2012/winners/index_en.htm

Here is the piece which I was nominated for and for which I also won Lung Cancer Journalist of the Year 2012 from the Global Lung Cancer Alliance and was nominated for UK Cancer Journalist of the Year 2012 as well as Campaign of the Year at the Scottish Press Awards 2013.

The person I was has died

Through contacts at a charity, I secured this inspiring human interest story on a young man who was attacked in Glasgow, and worked hard to balance his wish for a positive story with the shocking details of his attack.

Pacemaker in my tummy saved my life

This splash was syndicated to the nationals the next day, and ran in many as I had written it. I managed to put across Laura's long and complex battle against illness into an engaging and inspiring story.

I screamed 'I'm going to die like Jade Goody"

I heard this girl's shocking story was set to be on a TV show, and managed to track her down to tell it.

Sarah's story

I've managed to join a charity trip to Lapland a few times, and always manage to persuade some of the families to tell their stories.

Brave Jade

I met Jade at a hospital photo call but maintained contact so I could tell the story of her recovery.

Scared to smile

I heard about this lady through a friend, and worked with her and the dentist on a great two-day series.

Ayesha

I found the basis of this story in a charity press release- but when I investigated further I found the interesting angle that Ayesha's dad is a cancer doctor, and it spiralled into a big story with a great response and chance for lots of follow-ups.

Seat belt saved me from cancer

I secured this story through charity contacts, who had buried the shock way Nicole found out she had cancer in a press release about fundraising. It was syndicated to the Mail on Sunday.

I wasn't having a baby- it was a huge tumour

I met inspiring Morvern at a photocall for the Teenage Cancer Trust, and though I wrote about that event, her story became the splash.

Jordan loses long battle

I had followed Jordan's story since meeting the family on a trip to Lapland, and when I heard he'd died I managed to persuade them to talk to me.

Rare illness leaves Sam in pain

I'm the girl in 10 million

I got chatting to this girl and her family at a concert- and she made the front page after I persuaded them to tell her story.

Meet brave Iona

Iona was the winner of our Christmas competition, and because of my flair for writing real life stories with emotion but accuracy, I was asked to cover this story on her special day.

I also wrote a similar sad tale, about Carly Pearson, who was suffering from cancer.

Docs gave us choice to let Dylan die

I wrote this story after hearing about Dylan's family's fundraising for a heart charity- and the story about why they were doing it was a front page splash.

Our little superstar

I regularly cover 'death knocks' and this one came from a death notice in the paper. I managed to get this moving story after visiting the family and persuading them to share their story. It was syndicated around the country the next day. It even made the news editor cry!

At 15 docs said I was pregnant... but it was a brain tumour

I heard about Elaine Davidson after the Teenage Cancer Trust contacted me with a story about a girl who was fundraising for them. After speaking to Elaine, and her mum I discovered there was a much better story to tell. I wrote a number of stories on Elaine until she died a year later.

Man awoke from coma to find he had foreign accent

I found this story after agreeing to do a feature on the work of this charity- but soon identified Thomas' tale was the real one worth telling. It was followed up by the nationals.