Charlie Jones

I'm a journalist and writer with 20 years of experience, currently working for the BBC website.

BBC News •

The poet who wants us to rethink virginity

When the poet Hollie McNish lost her virginity at the age of 19, she stared at her face in the mirror for half an hour, expecting some sort of transformation.She wondered how to stand like a non-virgin so her family would not guess, and worried her parents were looking at her weirdly across the dinner table, while they all ate mashed potato.The word virgin might only have six letters, but not many other words carry as much power, she says."Virgin is my least favourite word in the English languag...
BBC News •

Endometriosis: I had to stop modelling because I kept passing out

Carla Cressy worked as a model from the age of five until she was 17, but kept collapsing on shoots. "It was really embarrassing and I couldn't do it anymore," she says.From the age of 13, when she started her periods, she was plagued by excruciating pain but she was only finally diagnosed with endometriosis when she was 25.By then, doctors had removed her appendix, mistakenly thinking she had acute appendicitis. "I was hospitalised for chronic constipation several times. I wasn't able to eat, I...
BBC News •

'I lost so much blood giving birth I can't work as a nurse any more'

Two years ago, Erin Cooper was 26 weeks pregnant and packing to go on holiday when she started bleeding.

"I was terrified. In the back of my mind, I thought my baby was dead," she says.

The intensive care nurse, from Bedfordshire, held an ambulance technician's hand the entire way to hospital and begged him to save her life.

"I said, 'Please don't let me die, I've got two older children that I need to be home for'."
BBC News •

Alopecia: 'He asked me if I was going to a Pitbull concert'

Mathias was diagnosed with the autoimmune condition aged 13, when she started losing her hair. For the next 17 years she kept her hair loss secret, using a series of wigs that irritated her scalp and often made her head bleed.During the Covid-19 pandemic, she found the confidence to leave home without her wig and began posting about her condition on Instagram, external."For years, I believed the best thing I could do to have a happy life was hide my hair loss," she says."I spent a long time avoi...
BBC News •

Izzy Judd: 'I can't let panic attacks take over my life any more'

Fifteen years ago, Izzy Judd was relaxing on the beach in Australia when she suddenly felt gripped by fear and unable to breathe.Her soon-to-be husband Harry, the drummer in McFly, had just gone off surfing."Him leaving me on the beach sparked a panic attack. It just came over me like a tidal wave. It felt like an out-of-body experience," she says.The professional violinist and mother-of-three is one of millions of people who live with anxiety so acute it can impede their ability to function.Las...
BBC News •

Grace Victory: I'm determined to live after three months in coma

Exactly five years ago, Grace Victory posted a two-word update on her social media channels.It said simply: "I'm awake."The writer and YouTube star had not been asleep. She had just emerged from a coma, during which she missed the first three months of her baby son's life.Now, after extensive therapy, Grace, 35, says she feels more content than ever and has come to terms with what happened to her five years ago."I've had to reclaim my life and how I want to live it," she says.It was December 202...
BBC News •

'Doctors dismissed my endometriosis as anxiety'

Amy Peckham-Driver was 14 when excruciating period pains caused her to pass out in a toilet.She asked doctors if it could be endometriosis, but was told she was too young and was given the contraceptive pill to ease the pain.Over the next decade, she battled with debilitating symptoms until she was finally diagnosed with the incurable condition, which affects more than 1.5 million women in the UK. The average waiting time for a diagnosis has now reached nine years and four months, according to a...
BBC News •

Harry Potter stunt double: Breaking my neck hasn't changed me

David Holmes was just 17 years old when he started making magic happen as Harry Potter's stunt double. The talented gymnast, from Leigh-on-sea in Essex, performed stunts deemed too risky for the film's 11-year-old star Daniel Radcliffe. But in January 2009 while filming the seventh film, he was rapidly jerked back on a harness, leaving him paralysed at the age of 24. Here, in his own words, he explains how breaking his neck has never changed his personality.
BBC News •

Strictly's Ellie and Vito still dancing together every week

"The phone rang, it was my agent, and she told me I was going to be on Strictly. I just started screaming."Ellie is beaming as she talks from her home in Essex about the phone call she had dreamed about for years.But it was not a surprise to her - she manifested it. "I said to mum that I would make Strictly happen," she says.Yvonne raised her daughter to believe that she could achieve anything.She went on to model, working with Vogue, Gucci, and Adidas, before she was noticed by the producers of...
BBC News •

Boy with SMA given £1.8m drug has new lease of life

A five-year-old boy who received the world's most expensive drug as a baby has made "incredible progress" and can walk independently, his mother said.Edward, from Colchester, has spinal muscular atrophy (SMA) which means he lacks a protein vital for muscle development.He was one of the first children in England to be given the gene therapy Zolgensma, which costs £1.79m for the one-off treatment, through the NHS in 2021.Mother Megan said Edward was her "pride and joy" and he had achieved mileston...
BBC News •

Why are young people leaving Britain to work abroad?

With rising rents, a tough job market and pay cheques stretched to the limit, some young Britons are choosing to build their futures overseas.According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), 195,000 people under the age of 35 moved abroad in the year to June.So where are they going, what are they doing - and will they ever come home?

With rising rents, a tough job market and pay cheques stretched to the limit, some young Britons are choosing to build their futures overseas.According to th...
BBC News •

Joe Tracini: Finding out I've got ADHD has saved my life

Actor Joe Tracini has always felt uncomfortable in his own skin. Growing up in Great Yarmouth, as the son of comedian Joe Pasquale, he was self-conscious and prone to depressive thoughts."I told my first joke on stage at 18 months at one of my dad's gigs," he recalls. "But a lot of my confidence growing up was a front."The only way he could engage with his peers was through his skill for magic tricks. He was relentlessly bullied at school."
BBC News •

'I thought my autistic son would never tell me he loves me'

James Hunt thought his autistic son Tommy would never be able to say that he loved him.But three months ago, the 14-year-old, who is non-speaking, sent him a text message with those very words."I immediately started crying," James says. "I know we have a good relationship and he is affectionate towards me but it was so emotional when he was able to confirm it. "After so many years of limited communication, it has been life-changing."James, from Burnham-on-Crouch in Essex, used to run a marketing...
BBC News •

I found my secret brother, just in time to make memories

Six years ago, Jess Basey-Fisher was holding her mother's ashes when her father, Nicholas, said he needed to tell her something.He revealed that his wife, Jess's mother, Ann, had kept a secret until the day she died.She had given birth before she met him and put the baby boy up for adoption."From the moment I found out, I was determined to find my older brother," says the 53-year-old nurse, who lives in Carleton St Peter in Norfolk.

Six years ago, Jess Basey-Fisher was holding her mother's ashe...
BBC News •

Model with Down's syndrome 'beyond excited' to join Malory Towers

A woman who made history as the first model with Down's syndrome to feature on the front cover of Vogue said she was honoured to be making her acting debut.Ellie Goldstein, from Essex, plays Nancy in the new series of Malory Towers on CBBC.Doctors said the 23-year old would never be able to walk or talk when she was born."I am so honoured to have been a part of this fantastic series. I'm beyond excited to see my episodes and share them with everyone," she said.
BBC News •

Widow thanks builders completing husband's home project

A mother-of-six whose husband died while renovating their home to help their disabled son said she was "so thankful" to volunteers who will complete the work.Sarah Fletcher, 46, who lives in Foulden, Norfolk, said her husband Shaun kept his mental health issues hidden before he took his own life on Christmas Eve.The charity Band of Builders, based in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire, will finish the downstairs bedroom and wet room for her 16-year-old son Toby, who has cerebral palsy."I'm so thankful to t...
BBC News •

Teachers on strike after 'scissors thrown at them'

When Sophie Walker graduated and became a teacher 10 years ago, she felt excited for the future.But this week the science teacher walked out on strike with 50 colleagues at her Ipswich school in protest at pupil behaviour.Teachers at Westbourne Academy are having chairs and scissors thrown at them, and many are struggling with their mental health, Ms Walker says.Some students are refusing to attend lessons and are disrupting other classes, and even exams, she adds."They go and collect other stud...
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BBC News •

Trichotillomania: 'I couldn't stop pulling out my eyelashes'

Four years ago, Isobel Perl was living with friends in London and thriving. She was working for a big accountancy firm and had a busy social life. Then the pandemic hit and she lost her job. Aged 25, she had to move back in with her parents in Watford.She decided to start a skincare brand, despite knowing nothing about the industry. It was a big success until one wrong business decision, which triggered her trichotillomania.
BBC News •

'Losing my legs changed my life for the better'

I think to myself, "you're not taking this away from me too". I channel that anger into making me run faster. He only served 13 months in prison and has never shown any real remorse, but I try not to think about him apart from that. It's a waste of energy and I try my best to stay positive.

Before the marathon, I decided to climb Snowdon and I scrambled up using my hands. When I got to the top, I had a cry and let all the emotion out. When I got to the bottom,
BBC News •

'I was mutilated at 16 but I won't let it define me'

I felt betrayed by my grandmother. She was the only person I loved and she had let this happen to me. I was made to lay down on the floor for a couple of hours for my bleeding to stop. I would have taken my own life if I had been left alone. After two days of being in that house, my grandmother took me to where she lived and I stayed there for some time, experiencing infections and multiple health concerns because of the cutting.

At the end of the
BBC News •

'Finding out I was autistic saved my life'

When I was 13, I had my first panic attack on a school trip. This was the start of panic consuming me. I had been anxious for a while, but until this point, I had done a good job of hiding it. I had tried so hard to fit in, pretending to be like everyone else, but my brain couldn't do it anymore. Almost overnight I changed from a child who teachers loved having in the classroom, to a child teachers had to battle with just to sit in class.
BBC News •

'I thought I'd never get to have a Mother's Day'

"This is my first Mother's Day with him, I am so excited. It is something that I thought would never happen for me," said Mrs Guyan, who lives in Biggleswade, Bedfordshire.

"My stomach was so inflamed that I looked six months pregnant on some days, which was even more traumatic because I couldn't seem to fall pregnant. One of my neighbours congratulated me because she saw my bump, which was very upsetting," she said.

She and her husband Alex spent several years trying for a baby after they got
BBC News •

Paramedic let down by mental health services, mum says

"Her GP then also threw her out because she was moving," her mother said. "There was a real lack of support from the start of her diagnosis, despite Rebecca desperately trying to access it.

At times the support was so bad that she took it upon herself to increase her own medication when she was struggling, her mother said, because she could not get advice.

"Rebecca was desperate not to go on that drug, she was worried it would change her whole personality, but she was told it was that or nothi
BBC News •

Government school attendance campaign criticised by parents

"Parents can struggle to get their children to school for many valid reasons. This campaign comes across as very patronising and ableist and I think the money could have been spent on much better things to support children to get back in school," she added.

"I think that it will be the biggest single issue, outside outcomes, that schools and heads will be worrying about when Ofsted starts again. If you are not issuing loads of fines then you will be downgraded as that seems to be the only appro
BBC News •

Vogue model Ellie Goldstein: 'Doctors said I wouldn't walk or talk'

Ellie recently bought her own home with the proceeds from her modelling but we don't know if she will ever be able to live alone. We are living alongside her for now, though we have kept our family home, and we are trying to encourage her to be more independent but she is still very vulnerable.

When I did the Vogue shoot, I didn't know if my photo was going to be on the cover. My favourite teachers were there when I found out, I was at college, and I was crying and screaming. My friends said "w
BBC News •

Scientists make pregnancy sickness cure breakthrough

"I had a real sense of an inability to exist, I couldn't be around my family," she said. "I considered not carrying on my pregnancies because it was so terrible and that is really common when you have HG.

The new research, published in Nature and involving scientists at the University of Cambridge and researchers in Scotland, the USA and Sri Lanka, found that the degree of sickness was related to the amount of hormone produced in the womb - and prior exposure.

They studied women at the Rosie M
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