Despite her tender years and lust for life, Charlea Armstead is battling the debilitating effects of dementia, a disease more commonly associated with the elderly. Her very rare neurological condition, Niemann-Pick Type C, is making her old before her time. It is gradually robbing her of memory and mobility, and causing her to suffer other indignities such as incontinence and confusion. There is currently no cure. Her 29-year-old mother Danielle Craig, from Oldham, told of her daughter's incredible bravery in a bid to raise awareness of the degenerative condition. ''She has big dreams for a wonderful life. I just hope a cure is found soon so all her wishes come true', she said.

Pam Corrigan, 77, from Bristol, is in remission for her latest bout of breast cancer. Mrs Corrigan (pictured left) has battled with the disease for 30 years and has endured dozens of operations, treatments and drugs. After finding her first tumour in 1984, the cancer returned almost every six years, even growing in the scars of her mastecomy. She has seen innovations in cancer treatments, and says treatment has changed dramatically since she was first diagnosed (she is pictured left with husband Michael, 78). She set up the charity BUST with two friends, because in 1991 breast cancer patients were treated on the general ward with other patients. BUST has raised more than £1 million for specialist treatment centres which offer a more holistic approach to breast cancer care. After decades of battling the disease, Mrs Corrigan remains positive. 'I don't want people in their 40s developing cancer, thinking "Oh my gosh it's not going to go away", my case is unusual,' she said.

Cheryl Hills, 45, (left) has had Botox to help stop her from grinding her teeth and has just eight teeth left in her upper jaw. Tanya Hindes, 36, from Lowestoft, Suffolk (right) suffered migraines and was prescribed a liquid diet. One in four Britons suffer from bruxism and dentist Dr Stephen Pitt says more people are grinding their teeth than ever

EXCLUSIVE: Perry Andrews, 24, from Cardiff, was bullied physically and mentally at school for being a 'geek'. He rarely socialised and his grades were affected. Being tormented daily meant he developed anorexia, throwing food in the bin when his mother wasn't looking. By the age of 15 he weighed a worryingly low seven stone, despite being a tall boy at 5"11 (left). He dropped out of school midway through his A-levels, unable to cope with the bullying coupled with his eating disorder. One day, he picked up a fitness magazine and the cove star's healthy and muscular physique inspired him to change his own life. He joined the same gym as his brother and introduced food back into his own life. Now he is a muscular 12 st 6, trains five times a week and hopes to enter a bodybuilding competition. Being a bodybuilder has also given him the confidence to find love: he now has a girlfriend for the first time in his life.

Ben Wilby, 12, from Cannock, Staffordshire (pictured left), was two when he was diagnosed with craniosynostosis - where the plates in the skull do not fuse correctly after birth. Doctors warned that surgery on his brain (pictured top right after the surgery) to correct it could mean he never walked or talked again. But a decade later and Ben, now 12 years old (pictured bottom right) has starred in all three Nativity films, alongside co-stars Martin Clunes, Catherine Tate and Ralf Little.

A gruesome simulation by ANSYS shows how sneeze particles travel through an aeroplane. If a person sitting in the middle of a plane sneezes, the sneeze particles are jettisoned into the air (pictured top left) where they hang above the sneezer like a cloud (pictured top right). They then fall on to the unlucky people sitting adjacent and behind the sneezer (pictured bottom left) who are most at risk of catching an infection. Because air is circulated throughout a plane, it is likely that the sneeze particles will travel through the whole cabin (pictured bottom right). Ian Henderson, professor of microbial biology at the University of Birmingham's School of Immunity agreed that if someone sneezes on a plane it is likely to spread throughout the whole cabin. He told MailOnline: 'It's true if somebody sneezes and they're infected with flu, they will expel viruses in the cabin. 'You can measure the dispersion of a sneeze up to 50ft. They really can spread a fair distance. 'Anyone who is sitting close to an infected person will come into contact with that pathogen.'

Nicola Cavanagh, 42, from Dundee, bought the £10 'cat's eyes' lenses to wear to a party last weekend (main image). But when it came to the end of the night, the 42-year-old could not get them out. Over the course of seven hours, the lenses had stuck fast to both her eyes. Helped by her partner, she managed to remove them after an hour and a half, but was in such agony she had to go to hospital. There, a consultant confirmed the lenses had fused to her eye and removing them had damaged the top lining to the cornea - the clear later that covers the front of the eye. Describing the ordeal of trying to remove them, she said: 'It felt like someone was pouring bleach into my eyes.'

A hospital in the city of Jinan in eastern China's Shandong Province hooked men up to a childbirth simulator to see what their partner goes through. The hospital said they want to show men how much women suffer through childbirth, and to give men greater respect for what women go through.

Dr Margaret Chan, director general of the World Health Organisation, bottom right, criticised drugs companies for turning their backs of 'markets that cannot pay'. She said the current outbreak - the most deadly in history - has exposed two WHO arguments 'that have fallen on deaf ears for decades'. Addressing the regional committee for Africa in Benin yesterday, Dr Chan said: 'Ebola emerged nearly four decades ago. Why are clinicians still empty handed, with no vaccines and no cure? Because Ebola has historically been confined to poor African nations.' A number of vaccines are in development, the most promising of which is GlaxoSmithKline's ChAd3 drug, which is the subject of trials in the US, UK and Mali, top right.

We reveal how to get the enviable physiques of the stars. This week: Alesha Dixon's thighs.

Devin Eckhardt (left and right with his son in the hospital), the father of California teenager Connor Ekchadrt (pictured in inset), posted online a heartbreaking video recorded at his son's graveside about the dangers of synthetic drugs. The 19-year-old slipped into a coma and was pronounced brain dead in July after taking a single hit of synthetic marijuana known as Spice. His parents have since launched a campaign to educate families about the scourge of synthetic narcotics.

After the menopause Pat Copestake, of Cheadle, Staffs, developed what she describes as a 'thickening' in her left breast. After she reached 50, like all women in the UK, she was invited for routine mammograms. Pat underwent four scans between 2004 and 2012 and mentioned the problem at each, but was given a clean bill of health - wrongly.

Linda Silverton discovered she was too large to walk around Coventry Cathedral in March 2012 and had to resort to using a wheelchair despite having nothing physically wrong with her. Linda, 55, from Wembley. who weighed in at 21st 9lb (right) at the time, decided she had to stop eating large portions and go on a diet. She took up the Cambridge Weight Plan and has since lost 9st 7lb in just 18 months, now weighing 12st 4lb (left)