‘Living with a death sentence’: NHS cadaver implant leaves woman with one of world’s rarest diseases
A woman infected with an incurable brain disease due to an NHS operation when she was three years old has told Sky News she is “living with a death sentence”.
Natalie Bralee-Brett was born with spina bifida, a birth defect caused by a gap between the brain and spinal cord.
In 1975, her mother Maureen was told by doctors at Great Ormond Street Hospital that Natalie would have an improved and prolonged life if they operated on her using a new procedure.
But this, unknown to Maureen at the time, involved taking membrane taken from dead bodies and inserting it into Natalie’s spinal cord. Now nearly 40 years later this treatment is the very thing that could kill her.
Natalie Bralee-Brett was born with spina bifida
It has caused microbleeding on her brain, leading to memory loss. Natalie, 53, is also falling over constantly and suffers debilitating headaches.
It also means Natalie is at high risk of dementia and could suffer a catastrophic stroke at any time.
“Living with a death sentence, this is the only way I could describe it,” Natalie told Sky News.
“Because every day, if you get a headache, you’re thinking ‘is this a sign of an episode that is linked to this problem? Is it a stroke?'”
“I want to know why I’ve got this problem. And that probably makes me more angry than actually having to deal with this condition.”
Search for answers
Sky News has been following Natalie’s case for more than a year, and we have spoken to experts around the world to try to help Natalie get answers.
Natalie was given a dura mater graft in 1975. This is a piece of membrane collected from dead bodies. Its use is intended to protect the spinal cord and prevent fluid from leaking.
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Cadaver surgery leaves patient with incurable disease
Natalie as a child
But over years, proteins already in the membrane can build up and cause plaques, leaving patients at high risk of diseases like Alzheimer’s. It can also make them vulnerable to strokes and brain haemorrhages.
The procedure was common in the 1970s in the UK, across Europe and the US.
It’s thought tens of thousands of patients around the world might have undergone the procedure, but it is not known how many might be suffering the same life-limiting and potentially fatal consequences today.
Natalie was diagnosed with a brain tumour in 2009, aged 37. A year later it was confirmed she had epilepsy. But it wasn’t until 2022 that Natalie was diagnosed with iatrogenic cerebral amyloid angiopathy (ICAA).
Her family have now suffered another devastating blow.
Natalie’s brother Neil, who also had surgery for spina bifida in 1980, was diagnosed with ICAA in July. He’s no longer able to work and is suffering from Alzheimer’s.
Natalie and Neil with their mother Maureen
Natalie and Neil as children
The siblings were born with the same condition, underwent the same procedure, and are now infected with the same incurable brain disease.
Natalie and Neil, 45, are the only siblings identified on the international ICAA register, which has just 52 confirmed cases.
Natalie says her mother Maureen is “heartbroken”.
ICAA cases ‘a heartbreaking tragedy’
Cases of ICAA have been identified in the Netherlands, Australia, Japan, Croatia, Austria, Italy, Spain, Slovenia, and the US.
Explained: Why cadaver implants are causing brain disease
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How cadaver graft caused incurable brain disease
Harvard Professor Steven Greenberg is one of the world’s leading ICAA experts.
“We hope and believe the numbers will be limited,” he said. “The hope is that we’re talking hundreds.”
But for those who are impacted, “it is a heartbreaking tragedy, and we feel it very much as the healthcare providers taking care of them”.
ICAA is caused by a medical examination or treatment, relates to the brain, involves amyloid proteins that can stick together and cause a range of problems for major organs – and that is a disease of the blood vessels.
Doctors believe there are three possible causes of the illness: cadaveric material introduced into a body during surgery, the use of human growth hormones containing cadaveric material and surgical tools not sufficiently sterilised.
Professor Greenberg explained: ”When I was in medical school, one of my professors said ‘the I stands for I, the doctor caused the problem’.
“And in the case of iatrogenic CAA, this is kind of a heartbreaking echo of an era when it appeared that a good neurosurgical procedure was to use tissue from human cadavers to close defects in the nervous system.
“And I am not a surgeon and I certainly wasn’t practising at the time. But my understanding is that it appeared to be good natural biological material for closing up areas and then had this unexpected and tragic effect of introducing some kind of protein that would later cause disease in the brain.”
Prof Greenberg hopes cases of ICAA are restricted to hundreds
‘I deserve answers’
Natalie’s health is steadily deteriorating. The bleeding on her brain is causing memory loss, and she dreads what the next few months will bring.
“The pattern seems to be every time I go for a scan, I’m being shown to have more bleeding,” she said.
“And the last scan showed that I also had inflammation. It’s always hanging over you because you get a headache, and you think ‘is this going to turn into something worse?’
“And because of being at risk of a stroke it’s constantly there, and it’s a condition that is going to get worse.”
Natalie’s agony is further compounded by the lack of information.
She wants to know more about the donor of the diseased membrane implanted into her brain. But there is no record of where the dura mater came from.
And most of the time these grafts were made up from more than one body.
Natalie said: “I think I deserve answers. And if you’ve got something wrong with you, you want to know it’s human nature. You want to know why you’ve got this problem.”
Diagnosing ICAA has only become possible due to advancements made in MRI scanning.
Specialists including Professor Greenberg have set up the international register so any neurologist suspecting ICAA can flag cases to their peers.
This isn’t the first time cadaveric dura mater grafts have infected patients.
The World Health Organisation advised against their use in 1997 after it was discovered they had been giving patients Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD) which at the time was also being spread by eating cattle infected with BSE or ‘mad cow disease’.
There were 228 of these confirmed cases worldwide.
Dura mater grafts were used in more than 20 surgical procedures over 25 years, with the last known use in the UK in 1992.
Natalie Bralee-Brett says she is ‘living with a death sentence’
‘Something is seriously wrong’
Simon Stratford was only 34 and a father of four young children when he died in April 2003.
That was nearly 16 years after having surgery to remove a brain tumour. During the operation a Lyodura graft was inserted into Simon’s brain. The membrane was infected with CJD and a coroner’s inquest found that it was this procedure that caused Simon’s death.
Simon Stratford with three of his children
Speaking exclusively to Sky News, his widow Colleen said she warned doctors treating her husband that she knew he was dying.
“I kept saying to the doctors he’s getting worse and something seriously is wrong, and you know, Simon did say to me at that point he thought he was dying.
“He had a brain tumour removed which saved his life and then was given a life sentence. They said it was the Lyodura dura mater that took his life.”
Colleen Stratford said she warned doctors treating her husband that she knew he was dying
Sky News asked B. Braun, a major German manufacturer which made Lyodura, to help with our investigation. They declined to comment on the link between dura mater grafts and ICAA.
For more than a year we have been speaking to experts around the world. Scientists in Europe declined to be interviewed. Natalie’s own medical team in the UK also refused to be interviewed.
The risks posed by the grafts are being better understood but the scale of the damage they have caused is not.
Some specialists who spoke to Sky News but did not want to be named are keen to stress that surgeons who carried out operations using these grafts were acting on the best available medical evidence to improve the length and quality of patients’ lives.
Natalie had her operation at Great Ormond Street Hospital. It’s likely, at least hundreds of patients would have undergone the same procedure.
Sky News has been speaking to experts around the world about cadaver implants for more than a year
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Following our investigation, its medical director Dr Sophie Varadkar told Sky News: “We understand that this situation may be deeply worrying for former patients who believe they could have been affected.
“At the time, this type of product was commonly used in surgical procedures worldwide, and sadly, the risks associated with it were not yet understood.”
“For any of our former patients who think they may be affected, we will support you with getting access to your medical records to allow you to discuss your concerns with your current doctors.”
The Department of Health told us concerns around ICAA – including new forms of transmission – were being investigated.
“The Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs is currently considering this issue with a view to providing further advice to the Government,” a spokesperson said.
“We encourage anyone with concerns about historical treatment to speak with their GP or specialist healthcare team for appropriate support and guidance.”
Do you have a story to share with us? Contact NHSstories@sky.uk
The former leader of Reform UK in Wales has been sentenced to 10 and a half years after he admitted accepting tens of thousands of pounds in cash to make pro-Russian statements to the media and European Parliament.
Nathan Gill had “abused a position of significant authority and trust” and was “motivated by financial and political gain”, said Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb during remarks at the Old Bailey on Friday.
Gill, 52, of Anglesey, North Wales, had previously pleaded guilty to eight counts of bribery between 6 December 2018 and 18 July 2019, corresponding to his time as an MEP.
Nathan Gill is surrounded by media as he arrives at the Old Bailey. Pic: PA
The Old Bailey heard his activities were linked to pro-Russian statements about Ukraine while he was a member of the UK Independence Party (UKIP) and subsequently the Brexit Party.
Following an investigation by counter-terrorism police, officers said they believe Gill likely took a minimum of £40,000 in cash and was offering to introduce other British MEPs so they could be bribed. Officers also said they believed some individuals in this case had a direct link to Vladimir Putin.
Nathan Gill pleaded guilty to eight counts of bribery. Pic: Met Police
Prosecutor Mark Heywood KC previously told the court the bribery offences related to Gill’s association with pro-Russian Oleg Voloshyn, who had been a Ukrainian government official before 2014 and was sanctioned by the UK in 2022.
Gill’s activities emerged in WhatsApp messages after he was stopped at Manchester Airport on 13 September 2021.
He was about to board a flight to Russia to be an observer in elections there.
Bundles of cash recovered
Police said the messages revealed Voloshyn had tasked Gill to make pro-Russian statements on a reward basis. Counter-terrorism officers said the text of some speeches was provided to Gill, which he delivered almost word-for-word.
In other cases, he was paid to offer commentary to news outlets, such as the pro-Russian media organisation 112 Ukraine.
A search of his home in Wales also uncovered thousands in euros and dollars.
Bundles of cash were recovered from Gill’s home. Pic: Met Police
Pic: Met Police
Greed ‘primary motivation’
Commander Dominic Murphy, head of the Metropolitan Police Counter Terrorism Command, described Gill as being motivated by money.
“It appears… greed was his primary motivation. But I think there’s an element of him that had a pro-Russian stance as well, but only he can answer that question, to be honest with you, he never told us that.”
Gill was interviewed in March 2022 and made no comment. He was charged and appeared in court in February 2025.
Gill said no comment when interviewed by officers in 2022. Pic: Met Police
‘A grave betrayal of trust’
During sentencing, Mrs Justice Cheema-Grubb described Gill’s offending as “sophisticated” and “a grave betrayal of the trust vested in you by the electorate”.
She told him: “You accepted payments from foreign nationals, made statements on important international matters at their behest, utilised scripted material presented as your own, and orchestrated the involvement of other MPs.
“Your misconduct has ramifications far beyond personal honour, which is now irretrievably damaged. It erodes public confidence in democracy when politicians succumb to financial inducement.”
Gill was paid to offer commentary to pro-Russian media outlet, 112 Ukraine. Pic: Met Police
Other UK politicians at risk
Commander Murphy said that police were continuing to investigate other MEPs, including some from the UK.
“What we do know from the conversations with [Oleg] Voloshyn is that Nathan Gill actually offered his services to contact other MEPs, mostly UK MEPs, to also make statements that might be supportive of a Russian position in Ukraine,” he said.
He added: “I do believe that some of the individuals in this case do have direct connections to Vladimir Putin. And I have no doubt that if we were able to, we could follow this trail and it would lead straight to Moscow.”
Commander Dominic Murphy believes greed was Gill’s primary motivation
Gill led the Welsh wing of UKIP between 2014 and 2016 and was a member of the Senedd between 2016 and 2017.
He was an MEP between 2014 and 2020, but left UKIP in 2019 to join Nigel Farage’s Brexit Party – later Reform UK.
Political fallout after prison term
Police have confirmed Nigel Farage has not been part of this investigation, but political rivals have called on the Reform UK leader to launch a thorough investigation.
Defence minister Al Carns, a former colonel in the Royal Marines, said Gill’s actions were “a disgrace”. He added: “I just think wherever we see Russian influence in UK politics, it’s got to be weeded out.”
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Meanwhile, Liberal Democrat leader Sir Ed Davey said “a traitor was at the very top of Reform UK”, referring to Gill, but also launched a direct attack on Mr Farage by calling him, and his party, “a danger to national security”.
“Nigel Farage himself was previously paid to be on Putin’s TV channel, Russia Today, and said he was the world leader he admires the most.
“We must all ask – where do his loyalties really lie? We need a full investigation into Russian interference in our politics,” he said.
Reform UK, which previously kicked Gill out of the party, said in a statement: “Mr Gill’s actions were reprehensible, treasonous and unforgivable. We are glad that justice has been served and fully welcome the sentence Nathan Gill has received.”
Liz Saville Roberts, Plaid Cymru’s Westminster leader, welcomed Gill’s jail sentence “for his acts of betrayal in taking bribes from Russia”.
In a statement, she said: “If the former Reform UK leader in Wales was part of a broader, co-ordinated effort to advance Moscow’s agenda within our democratic institutions, then the public deserves to know the full truth, and how far Russian money and influence reached into Nigel Farage’s inner circle.”
Britons buying cocaine on a Friday night could be inadvertently funding Russia’s war in Ukraine.
The National Crime Agency has revealed a billion-dollar money laundering network is operating in 28 towns and cities across the UK.
Couriers collect “dirty” cash generated from drugs, firearms and immigration gangs, which is then converted into cryptocurrency.
Officials say these illicit transactions have a direct link to “geopolitical events causing suffering around the world”.
This network was first exposed because of Operation Destabilise – and to date, 128 arrests have been made, with more than £25m in cash and digital assets seized.
A poster put up in motorway service station toilets by the NCA. Pic: PA
According to the NCA, the enterprise is so prolific that it purchased a bank to facilitate payments that supported Russia’s military efforts and helped sidestep sanctions.
Posters have been put up in motorway service stations to target couriers, which warn it is “just a matter of time” before they will be arrested.
The NCA’s deputy director for economic crime, Sal Melki, has warned the threat posed by this money laundering network is significant.
He added: “Cash couriers play an intrinsic role in this global scheme. They are in our communities and making the criminal ecosystem function – because if you cannot profit from your crimes, why bother.
“They are paid very little for the risks they take and face years in prison, while those they work for enjoy huge profits.”
Mr Melki went on to warn that “easy money leads to hard time” – and earning just a few hundred pounds through laundering could lead to years behind bars.
Sal Melki
The NCA says Operation Destabilise has already had an impact in criminal circles, with some members of the network now reluctant to operate in London.
Those involved in the money laundering effort have also started to charge higher fees – reflecting the difficulty of cleaning ill-gotten gains.
Cryptocurrencies are often regarded as a haven for criminals because they are perceived to be anonymous, but it is possible to trace these transactions.
Chainalysis is a company that monitors suspicious activity on blockchains, a type of database that keeps records of who sends and receives digital assets – as well as how much.
Its vice president of communications Madeleine Kennedy told Sky News: “Public blockchains are transparent by design, which makes cryptocurrencies a poor vehicle for money laundering.
“With the right tools, law enforcement can trace illicit funds – whether they’re connected to drug trafficking, sanctions evasion, or cybercrime – and use those insights to disrupt networks and recover assets.”
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Ekatarina Zhdanova. Pic: NCA
Last December, a global investigation led by the NCA smashed two networks whose money laundering activities were prevalent in 30 countries.
Bundles of cash were seized during raids, with detectives describing Smart and TGR as the invisible link between “Russian elites, crypto-rich cybercriminals and drug gangs in the UK”.
One of the network’s ringleaders, a Russian national called Ekatarina Zhdanova, is currently in custody in France and awaiting trial for separate financial offences.
Security minister Dan Jarvis added: “This complex operation has exposed the corrupt tactics Russia used to avoid sanctions and fund its illegal war in Ukraine.
“We are working tirelessly to detect, disrupt and prosecute anyone engaging in activity for a hostile foreign state. It will never be tolerated on our streets.”
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