"The original photo depicted Branson with his father"
A viral image which supposedly shows Nigel Farage visiting a child with terminal cancer in hospital isn’t real.
The image which has been widely shared on social media and resulted in thousands of interactions, shows the Reform UK leader smiling next to a child in a hospital bed, with a caption which claims Farage was visiting a seven-year-old girl with terminal brain cancer whose ‘final wish’ was to meet him.
“Nigel Farage canceled [sic] everything, boarded a plane, and walked quietly into a hospital room no one was watching. No spotlight. No audience. Just a man kneeling beside a hospital bed, holding a fragile hand, whispering words so powerful that doctors and nurses broke down in tears,” the captions say.
However, FullFact has concluded that the image is not real.
It states: “The picture does show a real child with cancer—an American boy who sadly died in October 2025. But the image has been edited with the help of AI to include Mr Farage.”
FullFact goes on to state: “Full Fact has found that it is an altered version of a real photo of a real child, an American boy called Branson Blevins, who sadly died aged 11 in October 2025 after having been diagnosed with leukaemia in 2024.
“The original photo depicted Branson with his father. The right side of the image circulating on Facebook matches this original photo perfectly, with details such as creases in the sheets being identical.
“When we put the section of the picture containing Mr Farage into Google reverse image search, it told us the picture had been “Made with Google AI”. Google’s AI assistant Gemini also confirmed the image had a SynthID digital watermark, indicating it was either generated or altered with one of Google’s AI products.”
Basit Mahmood is editor of Left Foot Forward
Left Foot Forward doesn't have the backing of big business or billionaires. We rely on the kind and generous support of ordinary people like you.
You can support hard-hitting journalism that holds the right to account, provides a forum for debate among progressives, and covers the stories the rest of the media ignore. Donate today.