TL;DR: As of July 8, get the Speedy Mag Wireless Charger for iPhone for only

A woman so allergic to the scent of Christmas that even “smelling a mince pie could kill [her]” almost died after a festive trip to a garden centre sparked an asthma attack. Anne Murray, 61, an engineer who lives alone in Lanark, Scotland, was diagnosed with severe asthma as a baby and has been allergic to traditional festive staples such as citrus and cinnamon since she was a child. According to the NHS, severe asthma means the condition is uncontrolled even when sufferers are taking their medication. When they are exposed to an allergen that irritates the airways, it can trigger asthma symptoms. Murray realised the seriousness of her condition at the age of 11 when her mother, Mary, collapsed and died from an asthma attack at the age of 34. Seven years later, Murray’s childhood best friend, Julia, also died from an asthma attack. Both deaths made her “live life to the full” and she has since done a bungee jump and travelled the globe. Murray had a near-death experience herself in November 2016 when she smelt “pine cones impregnated with citrus” in a garden centre. “I had difficulty breathing,” she recalled. “I grabbed my inhaler and ran quickly out of the garden centre.” On the drive home, her condition worsened. “It felt like someone was sitting on my chest.” Once home, she used her nebuliser – a device that enables her to breathe by giving her medicine as a mist – but could not get to sleep that night as she kept coughing, and whenever she laid down, it felt like she was “choking”. Two days later, and still struggling to breathe, she visited her GP and was barely able to stand up. An ambulance was called straight away, and Murray was given oxygen and strong nebulisers, before returning home with seven days’ worth of steroids. “They all told me it was a close call so it was lucky I had my nebuliser on me.” Since that incident, Murray has finished her Christmas shopping by September to avoid being near festive smells in shopping centres, and often turns down invites to Christmas parties. “It can be quite isolating,” she says. “If friends want to go out around Christmas, I have to ask them to go to different places where I know are safe. I can’t eat or be anywhere near things that smell like Christmas, or eat anything Christmassy like mince pies and stollen cake – I don’t touch them with a 10-foot barge pole. Just smelling a mince pie could kill me. So many things have Christmassy spices that you wouldn’t normally think of, too.” Following the dual losses of her mother and best friend, Murray learnt that she would have to make day-to-day adjustments to her life in order to maintain her own safety. When travelling, she often has to call the airline in advance to request that passengers only eat or peel oranges once they get off the plane. She also has to inform all her work colleagues not to wear festive perfume in the office. “I wish shops would put up signs saying they have festive scents in store,” she adds. “It would be so helpful for me, and stop them getting complaints too.” Today, she makes sure to keep her own Christmas planning low-key. “I don’t go anywhere near supermarkets and that sort of thing – it’s not worth the risk,” she says. “It can be embarrassing a lot of the time – if I go to a restaurant and tell them about my allergies, I get turned away and we have to find somewhere else to go. Or, I get loads of staff around me and I just don’t want the attention.” This year, Murray is looking forward to spending Christmas Day alone and visiting her dad, Archie, and stepmum, Alice, in Scotland. She says: “I still like Christmas, and I’m excited to be on my own this year – I can put my feet up and watch the telly, and eat whatever I want.”

If it seems like Black Friday deals are coming in hotter than ever, that's because

Turkish activists on Sunday defied a ban to stage an annual gay pride march in Istanbul one month after Turkey's election followed...

Looking to buy an electric vehicle? Google has a new set of tools that will

SAVE 49%: Access Japanese Prime Video from anywhere in the world with ExpressVPN. A one-year

Khloe Kardashian has revealed that what she thought was a zit on her face turned out to be melanoma. Kardashian, 38, and her family navigate the implications of the diagnosis during the latest episode of The Kardashians, a Hulu series that follows the high-profile members of the celebrity Kardashian-Jenner family. “Khloe has a little bit of a history with melanoma and cancerous lesions, so this on her face is very concerning to me,” Khloe’s mother Kris Jenner, 67, says to her step-sister Kylie Jenner, 25, during the episode. Kylie responds that her older sister had “this little bump and she was trying to remove it, and she’s like, ‘it just won’t go away,’ so to find out it’s melanoma is obviously really scary and I just hope that everything’s gonna be OK.” Kardashian decided to have a biopsy on the bump on her face, despite thinking it was a “zit”. “I have done one biopsy on this bump that I just assumed was a zit, turns out it’s not a zit,” she says during the episode. “It’s melanoma and for my age, it’s incredibly rare.” Melanoma is a type of skin cancer that can spread to other areas of the body, according to the NHS. The main cause of melanoma is ultraviolet light, which comes from the sun and is used in sunbeds. “Melanoma is deadly,” Kardashian said in a trailer for the show. “This is way more serious than I anticipated it to be.” Factors that increase the chances of getting melanoma include age and having pale skin, a large number of moles and a family history of skin cancer. Karshasian first opened up about her skin cancer scare in October 2022 and shared the news on her Instagram Story, featuring close-up photos of her skin. She said at the time that she was “grateful” that the margins now “appear clear” and she was in the “healing process”. “So, here we are… you’ll continue to see my bandages and when I’m allowed, you’ll probably see a scar (and an indentation in my cheek from the tumour being removed) but until then I hope you enjoy how fabulous I’m making these face bandages look.” Kardashian also urged her followers to get frequent checkups by recounting a past incident where doctors found a cancerous mole on her back. “At 19 years old, I had melanoma on my back, and I had a surgery to remove that as well, so I am pre-composed to melanomas,” she said of that experience. “Even those who are not, we should be checking all the time.” “I am someone who wears sunscreen every single day religiously so no one is exempt from these things. Please take this seriously and do regular self-exams as well as your annual checkups.” The Kardashians season three is streaming on Hulu now. Read More Triathlete proudly shares ‘beautiful’ racing photo where she bled through swimsuit while on her period Parents defend Nick the Fairy Godmother’s apprentice at Disneyland after viral video Jodie Marsh takes swipe at Phillip Schofield years after heated This Morning clash Khloe Kardashian praised for ‘honesty’ after opening up about surrogate pregnancy Khloe Kardashian’s best friend appears to confirm name of reality star’s son Khloe Kardashian criticises ‘narrative’ that she’s dating ex Tristan Thompson again

Shortly after Elon Musk acquired Twitter late last year, the company underwent a number of

It seems like every day, we hear about another price increase, whether it's for high-priced

The horse racing community was stunned earlier this year when 23-year-old Avery Whisman and 29-year-old Alex Canchari died by suicide less than six weeks apart

Karl Lagerfeld's Chanel haute couture is going up for auction.

TL;DR: A Dollar Flight Club Premium Plus+ lifetime subscription (two-pack) is on sale for £117.82,