:00:08. > :00:27.Tonight, the extraordinary story about the little girl operated on in
:00:28. > :00:40.the womb. We found out that one of the options is fatal surgery. --
:00:41. > :00:45.foetal surgery. And Chris Packham discovers how to kill a deadly
:00:46. > :00:50.beekeeping might. And the family forced to turn the lights out on
:00:51. > :00:54.their industry. We are moving house because we have to, because the farm
:00:55. > :00:58.is finished. We are leaving a lifestyle. I'm Gemma Woodman, and
:00:59. > :01:06.that is Inside Out South West. First tonight,
:01:07. > :01:10.a heart-warming tale about a little girl from Devon whose short life has
:01:11. > :01:16.already been extraordinary. Frankie Lavis underwent a pioneering
:01:17. > :01:20.and risky operation which you will see pictures of tonight while she
:01:21. > :01:25.was still in her mother's womb. Her story is now giving hope
:01:26. > :01:41.to others around the world. Frankie Lavis is fast approaching
:01:42. > :01:44.her first birthday, but before the celebrations, there is another big
:01:45. > :01:47.event, the appointment with the doctor who may have changed her
:01:48. > :01:51.life. Initially we were told we would be lucky if she sat up let
:01:52. > :01:56.alone walked, so it is nerve wracking to see that we're going to
:01:57. > :02:02.see him again and see how well he thinks she is doing. We think she is
:02:03. > :02:07.doing well. Frankie had spina bifida, a defect of the spinal
:02:08. > :02:11.column. Many babies born with it grow up unable to walk
:02:12. > :02:14.independently. Like 900 other British women a year, Jean
:02:15. > :02:22.discovered Frankie had the condition at her 20 week scan. You come in
:02:23. > :02:25.expecting to see your baby on the screen again and everything is game
:02:26. > :02:31.to be fine, and we were being told it wasn't. At that point I was
:02:32. > :02:36.overwhelmed, and quite devastated. Spina bifida develops in the womb. A
:02:37. > :02:42.section of the spinal column doesn't form properly. The spinal-cord is
:02:43. > :02:47.exposed through a gap in the skin to toxic chemicals in the amniotic
:02:48. > :02:51.fluid. This causes further damage. The severity varies, but it can lead
:02:52. > :02:56.to serious disability, and issues like in continents. Most women who
:02:57. > :03:00.are told that unborn babies have spina bifida choose to end their
:03:01. > :03:07.pregnancy, but for Jena, that was never an option. We went home, and I
:03:08. > :03:11.cried, and cried a bit more, and went online, and we found out that
:03:12. > :03:18.one of the options is foetal surgery. Foetal surgery is a
:03:19. > :03:22.remarkable operation. The exposed spinal-cord is covered up while the
:03:23. > :03:27.baby is still inside the womb. Normally this procedure happens
:03:28. > :03:32.after birth, but Gina's enquiries led her to this man, one of
:03:33. > :03:38.Europe's leading foetal surgeons. During pregnancy, the spinal-cord is
:03:39. > :03:43.exposed to the toxic environment of the amniotic fluid, and the direct
:03:44. > :03:49.trauma, the nerves that they get damaged, degenerate, and you have
:03:50. > :03:52.limb function loss. This process you want to stop as early as technically
:03:53. > :03:57.possible during pregnancy, and that is what foetal surgery does. Foetal
:03:58. > :04:02.surgery was developed in the United States. Sam Caracas was one of the
:04:03. > :04:09.first to undergo the procedure. Now 15, he can't do everything. Most of
:04:10. > :04:15.my friends are football players, and I can't do that, because if I get
:04:16. > :04:22.hit in my back, I could get seriously hurt. But he can do this.
:04:23. > :04:29.This is body popping, a dance form that requires incredible Cording
:04:30. > :04:33.ordination and control. -- coordination and control. It was
:04:34. > :04:38.success stories like Sam's that convinced Gina to go ahead with the
:04:39. > :04:44.foetal surgery. At 24 weeks pregnant, she travelled to Belgium.
:04:45. > :04:47.There the professor carried out the Operation Weeting about to show you,
:04:48. > :04:55.the first such case funded by the NHS. What can go wrong? You may not
:04:56. > :04:59.be able to complete the procedure. This is not only disappointment the
:05:00. > :05:03.team, but for the mother it is an unacceptable thing. It puts a lot of
:05:04. > :05:07.burden on you, and there is no handbook for competitions. You have
:05:08. > :05:14.to act on the spot what you think is the most reasonable thing to do. And
:05:15. > :05:18.incision was made in Gina's abdomen and womb. Frankie is facedown, and
:05:19. > :05:24.you can see her spinal-cord emerging through a large opening in her back.
:05:25. > :05:26.The team close the hole with an artificially membrane, and in doing
:05:27. > :05:33.so, protected her from further damage. After the operation, the
:05:34. > :05:39.pregnancy continued as normal. Then at 35 weeks, Frankie decided to make
:05:40. > :05:44.an early appearance. She came out screaming and kicking her legs, and
:05:45. > :05:47.I could just about see from where I was, I could see her in the corner,
:05:48. > :05:52.they wrapped this clingfilm around her to keep her back to did, and you
:05:53. > :05:57.could just see this little pink thing screaming and wriggling her
:05:58. > :06:03.feet. It was amazing. And when they brought her out, and you can see her
:06:04. > :06:10.legs moving, it was amazing. Totally unbelievable. There were issues
:06:11. > :06:15.early on. Frankie had to be treated her excess fluid on the brain, a
:06:16. > :06:20.common feature of spina bifida. Only time would tell to what extent the
:06:21. > :06:26.operation had been a success. 11 months on, Gina and Dan are
:06:27. > :06:32.convinced that Frankie is as able as any other child her age.
:06:33. > :06:41.But today she is meeting the professor. What will he think? It
:06:42. > :06:45.will be nice to see him after the surgery last year, but it is a bit
:06:46. > :06:50.nerve wracking as well to think what he might see how well she is doing
:06:51. > :06:57.or how well he doesn't think she is doing. A bit nervous, really. The
:06:58. > :07:04.professor has travelled from Belgium to Plymouth. He is cautiously
:07:05. > :07:06.optimistic. You expect an improvement, but we don't
:07:07. > :07:11.necessarily expect that it returns to completely normal. Also here is
:07:12. > :07:21.Plymouth consultant Dr Ross Welch, who cared very Gina during her
:07:22. > :07:29.pregnancy. Long time no see. It is. She has changed a bit.
:07:30. > :07:41.Time for some checks. First the professor tickles Frankie's feet.
:07:42. > :07:45.Her reaction is normal. Next he wants to check the muscle tone in
:07:46. > :07:51.her legs. Has she got the strength to push against him? And then with
:07:52. > :07:57.force as well, and she is pushing me away, that is clear. Finally, it was
:07:58. > :08:05.a big operation of a tiny baby. Frankie has been left with quite a
:08:06. > :08:08.scar. This particular family is of course a case that you really look
:08:09. > :08:14.forward to seeing with your own eyes, a baby with a lesion that is
:08:15. > :08:20.extremely high in the spinal column, that this recovers so well that this
:08:21. > :08:28.baby is moving the legs, this is very exceptional. Both doctors are
:08:29. > :08:30.delighted. I am astonished with Frankie, the improvement over what
:08:31. > :08:39.we would have expected without prenatal surgery is really very
:08:40. > :08:43.impressive. Frankie! The professor is impressed with how
:08:44. > :08:49.well Frankie is doing over there. She has got movement, she has no
:08:50. > :08:51.bowel or bladder problems and she is growing into a healthy, normal
:08:52. > :08:57.little girl. What more could we want? It is amazing, really. A few
:08:58. > :09:04.weeks later, there is a very special celebration.
:09:05. > :09:10.Frankie is the happiest, most content diva you will ever meet. She
:09:11. > :09:15.has a contagious smile and she is just a fantastic character, and she
:09:16. > :09:22.is Frankie. Spina bifida is just a small part of her. Since Frankie,
:09:23. > :09:27.three more babies from the UK have undergone foetal surgery on the NHS,
:09:28. > :09:29.and Frankie has started crawling. It looks like there is no stopping her
:09:30. > :09:36.now. For decades now,
:09:37. > :09:37.Britain's beekeepers have been battling a deadly pest that's killed
:09:38. > :09:40.bees in their millions. But now there may be a remedy
:09:41. > :09:43.in sight, and in part that's thanks Chris Packham travelled up
:09:44. > :09:53.the M5 to meet him. These hives in Wiltshire are
:09:54. > :09:55.an unlikely location for an experiment that could help
:09:56. > :09:58.save one of Britain's most Ron Hoskins has been keeping
:09:59. > :10:13.bees since he was 12. are the subject of
:10:14. > :10:18.ground-breaking research that could provide clues to the origins and
:10:19. > :10:21.cure for a disease that has wiped The culprit is this tiny mite,
:10:22. > :10:29.varroa. This pest and the diseases
:10:30. > :10:31.associated with it have played a part in the deaths of about 30%
:10:32. > :10:37.annually of all the bees in Britain. Some
:10:38. > :10:40.of these little red dots are mites The mite gets into the hive
:10:41. > :10:53.and then feeds on tiny bee larvae, That weakens them
:10:54. > :10:58.and leaves them susceptible to The reason Ron's hives are exciting
:10:59. > :11:09.interest is that his bees, although they had varroa and initially
:11:10. > :11:14.big colony deaths, for many years he hasn't had any thing like
:11:15. > :11:17.the death rates of other hives. Ron has never used pesticides to
:11:18. > :11:20.kill the mites - he believes that his bees have learned how to groom
:11:21. > :11:23.the larvae to rid them I first met him in 2011
:11:24. > :11:40.for Springwatch - he spotted I had noticed that they had the
:11:41. > :11:43.varroa mites, and I collected them and examined them and found a lot of
:11:44. > :11:51.them were damaged. I'm pretty sure it was done by the bees grooming
:11:52. > :11:53.them off. Monkey fashion. Not only that, these German pictures show
:11:54. > :11:59.pictures in the actually unplugging
:12:00. > :12:02.the larval cells in and dragging Armed with years of data,
:12:03. > :12:07.Ron has gone further, breeding queens from hives that show
:12:08. > :12:10.the best grooming behavior in an attempt to fix that
:12:11. > :12:29.behavior in the next generation. hive and what about these hooks
:12:30. > :12:36.either side? Those are the manipulators. They will open the
:12:37. > :12:47.Queen ready for insemination. And what it guarantees is that you can
:12:48. > :12:53.get your grooming gene into this receptive queen. We are going to put
:12:54. > :12:59.as many drones as we can until we have a gene pool. Of hygienic bees.
:13:00. > :13:03.Swindon saves the world of bees. Three years on,
:13:04. > :13:05.and Ron is still impregnating And that, you might think,
:13:06. > :13:09.was that - game over, plucky amateur This is Plymouth scientist
:13:10. > :13:20.Declan Schroder, an expert in the viruses that affect sea plankton
:13:21. > :13:24.- a range of viruses that are very similar in their genetic make-up to
:13:25. > :13:36.those associated with varroa. He is a world expert on bee colony
:13:37. > :13:40.collapse. His research showed a connection
:13:41. > :13:42.between the presence of millions of viruses in a hive and the deaths
:13:43. > :14:00.of bee colonies over the winter. They shouldn't survive. These
:14:01. > :14:06.viruses, when they get into hives, you have no control. All our work
:14:07. > :14:11.suggested that these hives should be dead, they shouldn't be alive. So,
:14:12. > :14:15.every week, Ron collect these from his hives and sends them to Declan
:14:16. > :14:19.to have the viruses within them analysed.
:14:20. > :14:22.Back at the lab, they are frozen with liquid nitrogen, crushed up
:14:23. > :14:27.and the resulting liquid is analysed in a sequencer for its DNA make-up.
:14:28. > :14:32.The team are looking for two types of virus.
:14:33. > :14:35.The first called Type A is carried by the mite and is linked
:14:36. > :14:51.It's also strongly associated with colony collapse.
:14:52. > :14:53.They're also tracking a second suite of viruses, type B,
:14:54. > :14:59.named after the mite itself - the varroa destructor.
:15:00. > :15:06.We looked at the hives, and we found high levels of virus. We only have
:15:07. > :15:21.two options, it will be tied me or type V. -- type a or type B.
:15:22. > :15:23.When the results came through, the DNA analysis showed
:15:24. > :15:27.But what Declan saw about Ron's bees astonished him.
:15:28. > :15:35.When I first saw it, I realised I had uncovered something amazing.
:15:36. > :15:50.We saw two areas. You can clearly see type B being the only type
:15:51. > :15:56.there. But this good be the answer to why Ron's bees are not dying.
:15:57. > :15:58.As a virologist, Declan quickly realized that what was happening was
:15:59. > :16:09.Mass vaccination was the immediate response to smallpox
:16:10. > :16:13.And something like the vaccination process in humans
:16:14. > :16:19.With smallpox vaccine, inert virus is injected.
:16:20. > :16:21.That prevents the active virus from entering the system
:16:22. > :16:28.But insects don't work in quite the same way humans do.
:16:29. > :16:30.Insects don't produce antibodies in the way that humans do,
:16:31. > :16:35.but they do exhibit something called super infection exclusion.
:16:36. > :16:38.I think that is what's happening with Ron's bees - the presence
:16:39. > :16:41.in large amounts of the varroa destructor virus has prevented
:16:42. > :16:54.the much more dangerous deformed wing virus from getting a grip.
:16:55. > :17:00.So there is a harmony developed, and it excludes any other virus from
:17:01. > :17:16.entering, and particularly the dangerous form of type A.
:17:17. > :17:18.And it's here that some of Ron's
:17:19. > :17:22.For years Ron hasn't used chemicals on his hives,
:17:23. > :17:25.relying on the bees' grooming behaviour to deal with the problem.
:17:26. > :17:26.Crucially, he hasn't killed off the mites.
:17:27. > :17:29.By not constantly killing them off, it could be that Ron's bees
:17:30. > :17:32.and mites have adapted to each other and the suite of viruses
:17:33. > :17:38.Other keepers, by killing the varroa off with pesticides, allow new mites
:17:39. > :17:54.So perhaps inadvertently by not using chemicals, Ron must just have
:17:55. > :17:57.opened up a way of protecting this insect that's so important
:17:58. > :18:06.in pollination and for the general health of crops on our planet.
:18:07. > :18:12.So what will Ron make of Declan's theory?
:18:13. > :18:19.We have literature hives, and we are looking at the virus. What you have
:18:20. > :18:24.is type B. This means that your hives are being protect to buy this
:18:25. > :18:32.virus. It is classic virology, superinfection and exclusion. The
:18:33. > :18:40.infection in your hives is excluding a really nasty virus, the type A,
:18:41. > :18:44.from getting in. We suspect that the varroa is keeping your hives
:18:45. > :18:52.immunised, in a sense. Amazing, isn't it? Fantastic stuff.
:18:53. > :18:54.Declan's new theory doesn't mean that Ron's ideas of his bees
:18:55. > :19:00.That may well be an important part of how the bees deal with
:19:01. > :19:07.the disease by keeping the viruses in the hive in some sort of check.
:19:08. > :19:10.Ron's very happy that decades of hard work counting endless mites
:19:11. > :19:17.seems to have led to a breakthrough.
:19:18. > :19:25.What you think about Declan's research? It is marvellous, very
:19:26. > :19:29.good. It is probably what we anticipated was happening, but
:19:30. > :19:33.didn't have the proof, said to have the proof is great. It started in
:19:34. > :19:41.1995 when I found the first colony that appeared to be immune, and it
:19:42. > :19:44.has progressed in Spain. 19 years, no chemicals, the bees have done it
:19:45. > :19:47.for themselves. -- progressed since then.
:19:48. > :19:49.Ron will continue his breeding
:19:50. > :19:51.programme, and Declan wants to take further his research to find out
:19:52. > :20:09.On the research will be published tomorrow in the international
:20:10. > :20:14.scientific journals. Next tonight: It's been a dreadful year
:20:15. > :20:18.for the South West's dairy farmers. A steep fall in the price they're
:20:19. > :20:21.paid for their milk combined with an end to EU quotas has seen many
:20:22. > :20:24.leave the industry altogether. Anna Varle has the story
:20:25. > :20:27.of one Cornwall family facing up to For Mark Oliver, a lifetime's
:20:28. > :20:40.work is coming to an end. I try and think about the future,
:20:41. > :20:43.but I can't help but look round and think about
:20:44. > :20:56.the things I have loved doing. Just getting the cows in this
:20:57. > :21:00.morning on the sun was coming up, and it was a glorious morning, and
:21:01. > :21:02.I'm not going to be doing it any more.
:21:03. > :21:08.Overwhelming sadness it's all going to end.
:21:09. > :21:10.All those years of breeding the herd, that's what
:21:11. > :21:22.The difference it will be, not getting up and living on a farm.
:21:23. > :21:26.The problem for Mark - a catastrophic drop in the price
:21:27. > :21:35.We've fallen by 10 or 11 pence, so we are back to 23,
:21:36. > :21:38.24 pence a litre, which is less than what it costs to make the milk,
:21:39. > :21:46.His future depends on the price he can get
:21:47. > :21:55.His rented home belongs to the farm, so he, wife Vicki and their three
:21:56. > :22:08.It is not just leaving a house, often when you leave our house it is
:22:09. > :22:12.something happy like a bigger house or you have a new job, but we are
:22:13. > :22:17.moving house because we have to, because the farm is finished, so we
:22:18. > :22:20.are not just leaving a house, we are leaving a lifestyle.
:22:21. > :22:22.His brother-in-law Nigel, as well as his father and his sister,
:22:23. > :22:27.They too are depending on the cattle sale to help them start new lives.
:22:28. > :22:32.The cows have to be tested for the disease tuberculosis.
:22:33. > :22:34.If any of them test positive, the value of
:22:35. > :22:51.A lot of what we have built up over the years is now going to hinge on
:22:52. > :22:55.one bomb on a cow's neck. If they go clear, it will be fine, if not, we
:22:56. > :23:01.stand to lose a lot of money in the value of our cattle. -- one bump
:23:02. > :23:03.Arnie cow's neck. It's vet Jo Osowska's job to look
:23:04. > :23:10.for telltale bumps that indicate TB. In the last group, we ended up
:23:11. > :23:25.with four cows who had reacted. So that is it now, the farm is shut
:23:26. > :23:29.down. I feel physically sick
:23:30. > :23:31.at the thought The market for his cows is
:23:32. > :23:35.now severely restricted. They can only be sold to other
:23:36. > :23:51.farms that also have TB. Going down with TB has made huge
:23:52. > :23:57.difference in what the cattle are worth, so that is very
:23:58. > :24:00.disappointing, and it makes life very difficult, because then you
:24:01. > :24:01.have a window in which you have to move cattle because you on
:24:02. > :24:03.restrictions. The cut in value
:24:04. > :24:05.and the mounting debt has left them with almost nothing to show
:24:06. > :24:16.for a lifetime of farming. Not very nice being our age, having
:24:17. > :24:20.worked hard all those years, feeling we are starting again with almost
:24:21. > :24:26.nothing, which for all the work that has gone into the farm and the
:24:27. > :24:29.number of hours but he has worked and how family life has been
:24:30. > :24:48.affected, you think, what was it all worse, what was the point?
:24:49. > :25:00.At times we have hand over a thousand head of stock. It is a
:25:01. > :25:07.strange feeling to walk around now with no livestock at all.
:25:08. > :25:15.All that's left is to sell the farm's machinery.
:25:16. > :25:28.It is the end of an era, and it is scary to think that this is what is
:25:29. > :25:31.happening to our industry. Last year in the South West,
:25:32. > :25:34.190 dairy farmers gave up. And many more across
:25:35. > :25:36.the country say they're increasingly Back at the farm,
:25:37. > :25:57.it's moving out day. To wake up and know that all our
:25:58. > :26:04.stuff is gone as well as the cows. I guess that is when farming is really
:26:05. > :26:06.over funny, then. -- over for me, then.
:26:07. > :26:09.The family are going to live with Vickie's mum in Bodmin
:26:10. > :26:17.Charlie is eight, he gets very upset about the thought of leaving school,
:26:18. > :26:23.and leaving his friends and settling into a new school.
:26:24. > :26:34.Whereas Annabel, she is six, and she is just excited still, but I think
:26:35. > :26:39.when it actually comes to leaving and leaving the pets behind, she
:26:40. > :26:44.will be really upset. I don't think she has really realised yet, because
:26:45. > :26:50.we're going to grandmas, and that is exciting. They are used to being
:26:51. > :26:53.outdoors all the time and being with the animals all the time, and we're
:26:54. > :26:58.going to be living how most people live, in town, so I know it will be
:26:59. > :27:01.fine, but it is the that is difficult.
:27:02. > :27:07.Mark's been offered a job as a preacher in Plymouth.
:27:08. > :27:14.My dad is caring for my stepmum, who is poorly, but they are doing their
:27:15. > :27:19.best and keeping going, and the rest of the family are sorted with jobs
:27:20. > :27:26.now, and they know we are going for now, so it is coming together. It is
:27:27. > :27:29.just, every day is one day at a time, get the next thing sorted, and
:27:30. > :27:42.by the grace of God, it is coming together now. They are now looking
:27:43. > :27:47.to the future. In six months, we might still be at my mums, but in a
:27:48. > :27:51.year, the children will be settled at school, we will have a new house,
:27:52. > :27:57.everything will be fine, and we know that. But getting from here to that
:27:58. > :28:02.point will be difficult. It has been very difficult in numerous ways, but
:28:03. > :28:06.it has also given us a sense of relief that we have come out and we
:28:07. > :28:09.can move on with our lives in a different direction, so mixed
:28:10. > :28:13.feelings, if I am honest, but because of what has happened in
:28:14. > :28:17.dairy, I think this is been the right time for us to give it up.
:28:18. > :28:21.A new dawn is rising for Mark and his family, but for many others it
:28:22. > :28:32.could be setting over the coming months.
:28:33. > :28:38.And that's it from all of us at Inside Out tonight. Don't forget to
:28:39. > :28:42.join us again next Monday at 7:30pm when we will have plenty more
:28:43. > :29:04.stories and investigations. We will see you then.
:29:05. > :29:07.Hello, I'm Riz Lateef with your 90-second update.
:29:08. > :29:11.Five British people have died whale-watching in Canada.
:29:12. > :29:15.Their boat sank despite the water being reported as calm at the time.