A mother says she was 'fobbed off' 14 times by doctors before she was diagnosed with cancer.
Paula Hudgell is a well-known name in Britain and received an OBE in 2022 for services to the prevention of child abuse.
Paula is the adoptive mother of Tony Hudgell, a nine-year-old boy who so badly abused by his birth parents as a baby that he needed his legs amputating.
Tony was just 41 days old when he suffered the life-changing injuries at the hands of his parents, Jody Simpson and Anthony Smith. They were jailed in 2018.
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Paula and her husband Mark fostered Tony when he was a baby before going on to legally adopt him in 2016.
But, sadly, it's not just Tony who has faced hardships in his life, his doting adoptive mother Paula was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2022. It has since spread and become stage 4 terminal cancer.
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In a new interview, Paula revealed that she was dismissed 14 times by doctors before she eventually got her cancer diagnosis.
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"I knew something wasn’t right, so I made an appointment with the GP, but was told it was IBS," Paula told The Mirror. "I kept going back, but my symptoms would last for three or four weeks and then settle down, so I thought maybe the GPs were right."
Paula had been experiencing suffering bouts of diarrhoea and constipation at the time.
She continued: "I got used to my symptoms, but then, after four years, I was on the loo and it was almost like my late mom spoke to me and I called the GP with the grit I’d have used if one of the kids was ill and said 'I need an appointment today.'
"I went with a different attitude and wouldn’t take no for an answer.
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"I’d started seeing the bowel cancer adverts on TV and demanded they test a stool sample. I knew deep down something was wrong, but I was so busy being a mom I put my problems on the back burner."
Ultimately, Paula insisted she have a stool sample tested which went on to find that her cancer markers were 'through the roof'. She was diagnosed with bowel cancer just a couple of weeks later.
In the wake of her discovering that her cancer is now terminal having gone away and then come back, Paula may have to undergo more surgery that would see her spend five weeks in hospital.
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She explained: "It involves cutting me open from the sternum to the pelvis, removing as much of the stomach lining as possible and flooding my stomach with chemo for up to an hour before flushing it out.
"This operation is horrific. But if it gives me a little longer, I’ll do it because every extra day I get to be here for Tony is worth any amount of pain."
If you’ve been affected by any of these issues and want to speak to someone in confidence, contact the American Cancer Society on 1-800-227-2345 or via their live chat feature, available 24/7 every day of the year.
Niamh Shackleton