Itsy Bitsy singer Brian Hyland to perform in Downing St for diagnosis campaign

Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini singer Brian Hyland will perform his 1960 classic hit in Downing Street as he backs a campaign for better NHS diagnoses.

The American musician, 82, will join British singer and campaigner Ashleigh Harley for the performance on August 22.

It aims to raise awareness of the number of young people who struggle to be diagnosed by the NHS and improve outcomes for patients facing delayed diagnosis of complex conditions.

Hyland promised a “joyful performance” in front of 10 Downing Street, adding: “It’s a happy song. When it comes on the radio, people start smiling, it’s just one of those songs.”

He told the Press Association: “When I recorded my version I was 16 years old, and that was actually my second record, and within a couple of weeks, it was just all over the place on the radio everywhere. It was actually this week in 1960 it was number one.”

He will perform the song alongside Harley, 27, who was ill for more than ten years, and sent home from hospital to die, after doctors failed to identify what was the matter with her.

Hyland added: “It touches me immensely because it’s such a tragic situation with children having their childhood taken away.”

Harley was 12 when she had her first seizure and started to become ill, but it took more than a decade before she was diagnosed, after her mother did her own research.

She told PA: “I got seizures every day, which made school completely impossible because I was collapsing every day.

“I couldn’t see. I was getting paralysis quite badly, so I couldn’t use my hands. I couldn’t write down stuff.

“That was the the first episode, that was when we realised something was wrong.

“We went down every single different route, and the doctors couldn’t figure out what it was. And there was the stipulation of, young people don’t get ill, therefore, you know, just go away and get on with it. It’ll be all right.”

But Harley never recovered, and lost the ability to eat and speak and had to use a computer to communicate. She was eventually sent home from hospital to die.

She continued: “It actually was my mum who had to do all the research to figure out exactly what it was, figure out the sort of specialists we needed to talk to, and then as soon as she figured that out, then I was able to get treatment.”

Harley was eventually diagnosed with Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS), a genetic condition that weakens connective tissue, which progressed into severe gastroparesis and refeeding syndrome, a life-threatening condition with a 15% survival rate.

She said: “Not everybody is in that position where they have a family member who can do that.

“It was ten years without a diagnosis, it ruined all my youth, all the fun things you get to do as a kid, you go to school, you have friends, go on a date for the first time, have a job.

“All that was just not possible. But as I’ve got healthier and I’ve been able to connect with other people from the same situation, it’s really shocking how many other young people are just like me, having their whole youth stolen from them, because they can’t get diagnosed.”

Harley has now founded a charity, Save Our Lives, to improve diagnostic protocols, and will release a cover of Itsy Bitsy Teenie Weenie Yellow Polkadot Bikini, to raise funds.

The charity hopes to launch a new service adjacent to the NHS to speed up the diagnosis process and improve treatments for those suffering from delayed diagnosis.

It also aims to raise awareness of difficult-to-diagnose conditions, including EDS, gastroparesis, mast cell activation syndrome (MCAS), postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (POTS), and functional neurological disorder (FND).

Harley said: “We’ve been developing a tool with the Save Our Lives charity that will offer a new advocacy service adjacent to the NHS to help people get diagnosed.

“So for complicated conditions, or people who are being just pushed aside, they can come to us, and then we’ll then assist their diagnosis process.

“The ask of the Government is, will you work with us to make this accessible and integrate it into the NHS?”

Harley’s single, Itsy Bitsy Bikini, will be released on August 14.

Published: 12/08/2026 by Radio NewsHub