The adoptive mum of double amputee Tony Hudgell has revealed the heartbreak of realising she won’t be able to see her son grow up following her terminal cancer diagnosis.
Paula Hudgell from West Malling was diagnosed with bowel cancer in 2022, but after chemotherapy treatment, she thought she was clear of the disease.
Happier days: Paula Hudgell with her adopted son Tony
However, in the summer, she announced it had returned.
She revealed the disease had also spread to her lungs and is now incurable.
She told The Mirror: “It’s hard for all of us to get our heads around, but I’m trying to prepare [the children] as much as possible.
“I was on the school run with Tony last week and he turned the radio up, because there was a love song playing that he liked.
“He told me he was going to have it at his wedding.
Paula Hudgell during an appearance on This Morning
“It suddenly hit me that I won’t be at his wedding. I had my tears from him, but it hurts so much that I won’t see him grow up or get married.”
Mrs Hudgell said she lived with her symptoms for four years, having been advised the bouts of diarrhoea and constipation were most likely IBS, before demanding a test for bowel cancer.
After undergoing surgery and chemotherapy she was told she was cancer-free.
But in July, she revealed on social media that the disease had returned and spread to one of her lungs.
She said: “After feeling the best I have in years, I’ve now been hit with the heartbreaking news that the cancer has returned, and this time it’s also in my lung.
A five-year-old Tony on his fundraising walk
“It’s been diagnosed as Stage 4.”
Stage 4 cancer is the highest level, also known as secondary or metastatic cancer.
Mrs Hudgell said: “It’s been a huge shock, and it’s taken some time for us to get our heads around it.”
“We don’t know exactly what the future holds, but I’m ready to give this the biggest fight of my life.”
After raising eight children of their own, Mrs Hudgell and her husband Mark adopted little Tony as a baby after he had been abused by his birth parents.
Paula Hudgell and Tony
At just 41 days old, he had been so badly mistreated that he had to have both legs amputated at the knee.
But Tony, now aged 11, has since won the heart of the nation, not just for his determination to overcome his own adversity, but also for his efforts to help others.
He has raised more than £2m for charity by carrying out sponsored walks on his prosthetic legs, for which he has been received at Buckingham Palace and honoured with a visit to Downing Street.
He has been awarded the British Empire Medal.
Mrs Hudgell has become a campaigner against child abuse and was successful in getting Parliament to pass Tony’s Law, increasing the maximum jail terms for child abusers.
Tony Hudgell wearing an Inter Miami shirt sent to him by David Beckham. Picture: Paula Hudgell
She herself was made an OBE for services to children in 2023.
When she revealed her diagnosis in a post on social media, Mrs Hudgell said the work of the Tony Hudgell Foundation – which the family set up to help other children who had suffered physical, emotional, or psychological abuse – would continue, though others would take the reins.
She thanked friends and family for their love and support, saying: “You have been incredible, and it means the world.”
She promised: “This beast may have returned, but I’m not going anywhere without a fight.”
Earlier this year, Tony’s biological mother was released early from jail.
Jody Simpson, from Whitstable, was released from HMP Downview in July, after serving only six years for the abuse.
In the same month, the Home Office announced his birth father, Antony Smith, from Maidstone, was also set for release.
The pair were serving 10-year jail terms for their crimes.