Ani, who has motor neurone disease, and Suzie, who watched her husband die in agony, share their reasons for wanting change

• Majority of Scottish voters support assisted dying bill, poll reports

Theresa George, known to most as Ani, says she has no fear of dying, but she does have a fear of how she dies. She has a degenerative, incurable condition, and when her defences are down, the upsurge of stress and anxiety can at times feel overwhelming.

“I can have panic attacks,” she said. “All of my effort at this point is on trying to keep a positive mental attitude and enjoying what life I have left.”

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Vorasidenib worked in trials but is not yet available on the NHS

On a fine spring day two years ago, Shay Emerton was in good spirits playing for an old pupils’ school football team. There was just 10 minutes of the game to play, when his life changed for ever.

Emerton, 26, said: “The goalie kicked to clear the ball and it hit me on the side of the head. I went dizzy and as I went to run off, my legs buckled beneath me. I thought, ‘I am in trouble here’ and then blacked out.”

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Health campaigners call for hard-hitting messages about risks of drinking and of being overweight

• From smoking to seatbelts: hard-hitting safety campaigns that made a difference

Hard-hitting TV campaigns about the dangers of unhealthy eating and labels on alcohol are needed to curb the huge rise in avoidable cancers, charities and health campaigners have warned.

The World Cancer Research Fund (WCRF) said mass media campaigns, using tough messages mirroring the graphic photographs and wording on cigarette packets, were now needed to tackle the widespread lack of awareness that alcohol and being overweight are both major causes of cancer.

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Women with BRCA1 or BRCA2 gene variants may be told of higher cancer risk without accounting for family history

Women are being unnecessarily alarmed about their risk of breast cancer by consumer genetic test results that do not take family history into account, researchers have said.

Women who discover outside a clinical setting that they carry a disease-causing variant of the BRCA1 or BRCA2 genes may be told that their risk of breast cancer is 60-80%. But analysis of UK Biobank data suggests the risk could be less than 20% for those who do not have a close relative with the condition.

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Comic had her own Radio 4 series, and appeared in TV comedies including Sunny D, Jerk and The Emily Atack Show

A comedian who had her own BBC Radio 4 show has died aged 35. Maddy Anholt, who appeared in numerous TV comedies and published a self-help book, has died, her family has announced.

“It is with profound sorrow that we announce the death of Maddy Anholt, our beloved daughter, sister, twin, friend, wife and mother, who left this world on Wednesday 13 September, aged 35,” said a statement.

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Immunologists behind pioneering cancer therapy also among recipients of most lucrative prize in science

Two physicists who played a key role in advancing a theory that describes the basis of all matter and a pair of immunologists who developed a pioneering cancer therapy that is currently being investigated as a treatment for autoimmune disease are among the winners of the most lucrative prize in science.

Founded in 2012, the Breakthrough prize is the world’s largest international science prize, with the winners of the five main awards – three in life sciences, one in fundamental physics, and one in mathematics – each receiving a $3m (£2.4m) prize

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Sarah Cripps launches Swab to Save a Child campaign to encourage more people to register to donate

A campaign to get more people to donate stem cells is taking place across England this weekend, as charities say there is an urgent need to increase the register in the UK.

A network of mothers have teamed up with the blood cancer charity DKMS to raise awareness and encourage more people to register to donate their stem cells at drive-in events on 17 September.

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Public health has been neglected for too long, and new research on the rise of lifestyle-linked cancers proves it

New research carried out for the Guardian offers alarming proof of the growing risks from preventable cancers. Economists estimate that around 184,000 people in the UK will be diagnosed this year with diseases that could have been avoided – mostly lung, bowel, melanoma and breast cancers. Globally, too, the rates of these illnesses are rising in younger people. While nine out of 10 cancers affect people over 50, the authors of another new study believe tobacco, diet and alcohol are among the causes of the increase in cancer diagnoses in people under 50 worldwide. Cancer‑linked deaths of adults in their 40s or younger grew by 27% between 1990 and 2019.

Frontier Economics, which did the research for the Guardian, estimates that the cost to the UK of all this unnecessary illness will be £78bn between now and 2031 – or 3.5% of annual GDP. For health policymakers such figures can be a useful guide, and a means of building a case for change. But for most people, the more worrying cost is the human one. Nobody wants to be diagnosed with a serious disease and these findings are in line with other recent analysis of the changing nature of illness – and evidence linking poor health to factors including diet and tobacco.

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Exclusive: Calls for crackdown on smoking, drinking and poor diet as study reveals £78bn cancer cost

A growing epidemic of preventable cancers will lead to 184,000 people in the UK being diagnosed with the disease this year and will cost the country more than £78bn, research reveals.

Cancer caused by smoking, drinking, obesity and sunburn leads to £40bn a year in lost productivity, costs the people affected £30bn and takes up £3.7bn of the NHS’s budget, the study found. Preventable cancers also cost families and carers £3.4bn and the social care system £1.3bn.

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