Success Stories

Susanna Bolton spoke to Cavendish Press to tell how her pet parrot saved the lives of five newborn pups by walking up the stairs in the dead of night to wake her up and warn about her dog unexpectedly going into labour. Animal lover Susanna, 55, from Darwen, Lancs, was awoken by her pet African Grey parrot Sam, who had never been upstairs before, squawking 'come on, come on' on her pillow and as she took him down to his perch he continued his racket until she noticed that her pomeranian dog had given birth, a week earlier than expected. Thanks to Sam, Susanna was just in time to save all of their lives. The story went in Real people magazine.

British tourist Rachel Devine spoke to Cavendish Press to tell how she was left fighting for life in a coma after being felled by an ice cream whilst on holiday in Turkey. Rachel and boyfriend Chris Mee were eating the cornets when she suddenly struggled for breath due to a severe reaction to the goats’ milk in the ice cream, an ingredient she was unaware of. The trainee lawyer fell into a coma and after emergency treatment in Turkey she was flown back to a hospital in her home of Northern Ireland — it was another four weeks before she came round. Initially Rachel was unable to walk and talk and started a gruelling rehabilitation programme but was left relying on a wheelchair to get around. Her heartbreaking story featured Take-A-Break magazine.

 Rape victim Samantha Roberts bravely went public and wrote to David Cameron after hearing of the girls who suffered at the hands of the Rochdale child sex gang. Samantha, 18 - who was raped ELEVEN times by four Asian men when she was 12 - wanted an inquiry into child sex rings and tougher sentences. Her attacker Shakil Chowdhury, who was 39, was jailed for just six years - and served only three. He was released when Samantha was just 16 and was allowed to live within yards of a primary school. Samantha, who says she lived in a "psychological prison" for five years following the rapes, believes child sex gangs are a far greater problem in Britain than people realise. Samantha, from Oldham spoke to Cavendish Press to raise awareness of her campaign and her story went in The Sun and New! magazine.  

Young mum Charlotte Dent from Liverpool found out her baby son had a condition that could potentially leave him brain damaged - after speaking to a total stranger about his illness on Facebook. She discovered six-month-old George had the rare condition trigonocephaly because a woman whose son has the same thing saw him on her Facebook profile picture. The condition is so serious that without an operation at one-year-old sufferers can be left permanently brain damaged. After being warned that her son could have trigonocephaly she contacted a specialist at Alder Hey children's hospital and received the diagnosis the same day. Charlotte said she was angry the condition was not spotted by doctors earlier. She said she also wanted to tell her story to Cavendish Press for other parents so babies affected could get the help they need. Her story went in Pick-Me-Up magazine.

Louise Ray was left devastated after her teenage daughter Gemma died and lost her baby two days before her 18th birthday. Gemma Ray, from Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffs was almost 19 weeks pregnant with her first child and in the throws of organising celebrations for her milestone birthday when she suffered an epileptic seizure and died in her sleep. Her pregnancy had been going well and doctors were not expecting any complications because of her epilepsy. But Gemma was found dead by her family when she failed to wake up in the morning at her home. Louise, who does voluntary work, spoke to Cavendish Press to raise public awareness about the effects of epilepsy. Her story went in That's Life magazine.