Patients forced by NHS to beg for their lives online
New dad Mick flies baby and girlfriend to Mustique hol
MICK Jagger has taken another big step in his relationship with Melanie Hamrick – by whisking her off to the paradise isle so special to him and L’Wren Scott.
The Rolling Stone flew ballerina Melanie, 29, and their two-monthold son Deveraux Octavian Basil Jagger to Mustique for a 10-day break at his luxury villa.
Pals say it’s a sign of the 73-yearold Stone’s increasing commitment to his new family.
And a source said he has “taken like a duck to water” to becoming a dad again for the eighth time.
“Mick is very dedicated to his new family and wanted some quality time with Melanie and the baby before they both return to work,” said the source.
“He took them to his home in Mustique and they explored the island together. They feel very settled. It was a very special place for Mick and L’Wren, so taking Melanie there shows how committed he is to her.”
Mick’s six- bedroom beachfront home on the private West Indies island was a favourite getaway for Mick and fashion designer L’Wren, 50, his lover of 13 years.
BEACH
She was believed to have spent a week at the villa before committing suicide in her Manhattan apartment in March 2014 while Mick toured in the Far East. He flew to Mustique to grieve her loss.
Last week American Melanie posted a snap on Instagram of her and Deveraux captioned: “Thinking back to my angel’s first beach trip.”
Mick first met Melanie when her American Ballet Theatre was performing in Tokyo at the same time as the Stones. He flew from London to New York to be at the birth of their boy on December 8.
The star is well practised at fatherhood. He has a daughter, Karis Hunt Jagger, 46, from his relationship with Marsha Hunt, and Jade Jagger, now 45, with his ex-wife Bianca.
He had four children with his ex-partner Jerry Hall – Elizabeth, 32, James, 31, Georgia, 24, and Gabriel, 18. The rocker also has a son, Lucas, 17, from a brief relationship with Brazilian model Luciana Gimenez.
Mick has five grandchildren and became a great- grandfather in 2014 when Jade’s daughter Assisi gave birth to a daughter. THOUSANDS of patients are turning to crowdfunding sites to raise cash for treatments turned down by the NHS.
JustGiving has seen a huge spike in the number of online fundraising pages set up for treatment abroad – up from just 304 in 2015 to 2,348 last year.
A massive £9.4million was donated via JustGiving to help with medical care in 2016 – a 300 per cent increase on the previous year. GoFundMe said it had also seen a rise in campaigns to help people cover treatment costs, with nearly £ 8m raised last year, compared to just under £5m in 2015.
Mum Joanne Worrell is desperately trying to raise £100,000 to send her 11-year-old disabled son to America for treatment not available on the NHS.
Harry, who has a motor neurone disease called spinal muscular atrophy, is likely to be wheelchair-bound by the age of 14 unless he gets new drug Spinraza, which can halt the progress of his condition and may even reverse it. Joanne, 38, of Potters Bar, Herts, said: “More drugs are becoming available for rare conditions and they are very costly. I am a nurse, I know how much pressure there is on the NHS and I don’t know what the answer is.
“But everybody deserves treatment and it doesn’t sit right with me that in a first world country like ours we can deny people access to healthcare.”
She said if Harry’s condition deteriorates to the point where he loses his independence, he will become a burden on the state. She said: “Without treatment Harry faces a lifetime of depending on other people. He’ll be more of a cost to the NHS than if they had paid for treatment.”
Charles Wells, chief operations officer of JustGiving, said: “Over the last 12 months we’ve seen more and more people crowdfunding on JustGiving to raise money for treatments that aren’t available on the NHS.”
Donate to Harry at justgiving.com/ crowdfunding/sophie-worrel