Happier days: Paula Hudgell with her adopted son Tony<\/p>\n
However, in the summer, she announced it had returned.<\/p>\n
She revealed the disease had also spread to her lungs and is now incurable.<\/p>\n
She told The Mirror: \u201cIt\u2019s hard for all of us to get our heads around, but I\u2019m trying to prepare [the children] as much as possible.<\/p>\n
\u201cI 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.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe told me he was going to have it at his wedding.<\/p>\n
Paula Hudgell during an appearance on This Morning<\/p>\n
\u201cIt suddenly hit me that I won\u2019t be at his wedding. I had my tears from him, but it hurts so much that I won\u2019t see him grow up or get married.\u201d<\/p>\n
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.<\/p>\n
After undergoing surgery and chemotherapy she was told she was cancer-free.<\/p>\n
But in July, she revealed on social media that the disease had returned and spread to one of her lungs<\/a>.<\/p>\n She said: \u201cAfter feeling the best I have in years, I\u2019ve now been hit with the heartbreaking news that the cancer has returned, and this time it\u2019s also in my lung.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been diagnosed as Stage 4.\u201d<\/p>\n Stage 4 cancer is the highest level, also known as secondary or metastatic cancer.<\/p>\n Mrs Hudgell said: \u201cIt\u2019s been a huge shock, and it\u2019s taken some time for us to get our heads around it.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cWe don\u2019t know exactly what the future holds, but I\u2019m ready to give this the biggest fight of my life.\u201d<\/p>\n 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<\/a>.<\/p>\n At just 41 days old, he had been so badly mistreated that he had to have both legs amputated at the knee.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n He has raised more than \u00a32m 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.<\/p>\n He has been awarded the British Empire Medal.<\/p>\n Mrs Hudgell has become a campaigner against child abuse and was successful in getting Parliament to pass Tony\u2019s Law, increasing the maximum jail terms for child abusers.<\/p>\n She herself was made an OBE for services to children<\/a> in 2023.<\/p>\n 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.<\/p>\n She thanked friends and family for their love and support, saying: \u201cYou have been incredible, and it means the world.\u201d<\/p>\n She promised: \u201cThis beast may have returned, but I\u2019m not going anywhere without a fight.\u201d<\/p>\nA five-year-old Tony on his fundraising walk<\/p>\n
Paula Hudgell and Tony<\/p>\n
Tony Hudgell wearing an Inter Miami shirt sent to him by David Beckham. Picture: Paula Hudgell<\/p>\n