1 week Ago By [email protected] (Matt Davies)
A woman who had to have a third of her tongue removed after pain from her braces turned out to be cancer has opened up about her recent struggle with kidney failure. Kimberley Hattersley-Barton, from Wakefield, West Yorkshire, was first diagnosed with bladder cancer when she was just 13 months old. Fast forward more than two decades, the 26-year-old has been re-diagnosed several times as doctors discovered new cancers in her body.
They found a mass on her tongue, then a few years later, cancer in her thyroid. Now, a year after being declared cancer-free, she's facing another battle: kidney failure. "I started renal dialysis for my condition [a few months ago]," Kimberley said.
“It’s a late effect of the treatment I had with my childhood cancer. I’m still adapting to my new normal routine, but it’s been extremely difficult." She added: "Especially after all my previous challenges.
I realised I had a lump at the back of my tongue but didn't think anything of it [at first, because of my braces]." "But a few days later, it had changed size and shape so my mum took me to the GP and they referred me to the hospital. That is when they told me that I had a malignant tumour.
"I just remember crying straight away and saying that I don’t want it [the cancer] to come back. "As a baby, I had six months' worth of treatment and was left with multiple lifelong treatment side effects and I didn't want this cancer to leave me with something else. I was gutted and so upset.
" Kimberley faced a grim prognosis as doctors delivered the heart-wrenching news – she would have to endure six and a half weeks of radiotherapy followed by surgery to excise the affected part of her tongue. Describing her ordeal, she said: "They had to remove the back third of my tongue." Kimberley recalled the gruelling recovery, mentioning: "After the surgery, it was a long, hard and tiring time.
" She detailed the challenges she faced, stating: "It was a lot to deal with because I had to learn how to speak again, even how to swallow with some of my tongue missing." Feeling debilitated post-surgery, Kimberley shared: "I was very weak after the surgery as well." The exhaustive treatment took its toll, as she confided: "By the end of treatment, I was just completely drained and just really frail.
" Her weight loss was significant to the point where independence was compromised: "I lost so much weight, I couldn't get up by myself, I was living off supplement drinks." The pain was acute, and while Kimberley struggles with these memories, she admitted: "It was really painful – these are harsh memories that I do struggle to look back on." After a harrowing journey, she was relieved to be in the clear and eager to put the past behind her, but fate had other plans.
Four years following her initial surgery in 2016, Kimberley noticed unusual soreness in her tongue – a telltale sign that something was amiss. The cancer had returned. She elaborated: "This time, it was in the middle of my tongue.
" Unlike before, there were no clear signs such as lumps, just an incessant pain. Expressing her dietary struggles, she stated: "But I literally couldn't eat food, not even tomato sauce." Doctor’s revealed she faced a new mutation.
In the blink of an eye, Kimberley was once more scheduled for surgery, this time to remove even more of her tongue. "I was worried how much more of my tongue they were going to remove and what my speech would be like afterwards." "At that point, in my mind, I didn't think you could get cancer three times, yeah – maybe twice, but a third time [felt unbelievable].
" "They also did a right side neck dissection, [an operation to remove lymph nodes] to make sure the cancer hadn't spread further." "Because of that, I now have a U-shape scar, like a smile, across my neck. But I was just happy to go home.
" Unfortunately, this was not the end of Kimberley’s nightmare. In June 2022, something came up on one of her routine follow-up scans, which turned out to be thyroid cancer – but thankfully, it was caught at the earliest stage. Due to her history, doctors removed the thyroid and suspected lymph nodes as a preventative measure in December of that year.
While Kimberley is out of the woods with cancer, this new health battle means she’s still trying to work through each day as normally as possible and is sharing her story to raise awareness. She added: "It's taken a lot to try and get back to some normality and routine because, without a thyroid, I have to take medication to help balance out my hormone levels and metabolism and all that affects my energy levels." "They want [to make] sure that any remaining cells in there that can't get treated are definitely going to be kept suppressed, basically.
"So I am suffering with fatigue but all in all I have recovered quite well. I will live with the side effects of the treatment for the rest of my life, but I am just glad to be thriving after surviving the battles I have overcome." Kimberley also shares her journey and spreads awareness on Instagram, (@kimberleys_lifewiththeribbon), where she has garnered a following of more than 700 people.
Earlier in April, she organised a charity gala that successfully raised more than £10,000 for three charities that have been instrumental in her support system. Looking ahead, Kimberley is set to host another event, 'Life With The Ribbon: Charity Gala' on May 10, 2025, aiming to raise more funds and mark five years since her remission ..
