Kimberley Hattersley-Barton, a Wakefield woman who had to have a third of her tongue removed when pain from her braces was revealed to be cancer, has courageously spoken about her recent ordeal with kidney failure.
Diagnosed with bladder cancer at just 13 months old, the now 26-year-old has faced multiple diagnoses as new cancers were discovered in her body, including a mass on her tongue and later, thyroid cancer, reports SurreyLive.
After a year of being cancer-free, she’s now grappling with kidney failure. “I started renal dialysis for my condition [a few months ago],” Kimberley shared.
“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 continued: “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 dire situation as doctors informed her of the devastating news – she was to undergo six and a half weeks of gruelling radiotherapy before surgery to remove the impacted section of her tongue. Reflecting on the experience, she shared: “They had to remove the back third of my tongue.”
Kimberley described the tough road to recovery, noting: “After the surgery, it was a long, hard and tiring time.”
She recounted the difficulty in adapting to life after the operation, saying: “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.”
Post-surgery, she found herself significantly weakened, revealing: “I was very weak after the surgery as well.”
The entire treatment process left her exhausted, and she revealed: “By the end of treatment, I was just completely drained and just really frail.”
Her weight dropped drastically, affecting her autonomy: “I lost so much weight, I couldn’t get up by myself, I was living off supplement drinks.”
Kimberley admitted to the sharp pain she suffered, saying: “It was really painful – these are harsh memories that I do struggle to look back on.”
After an intense ordeal, she was finally cancer-free and ready to move forward; however, after four years, in 2016, she felt a familiar discomfort in her tongue, which signalled a dreaded recurrence of the cancer.
She further explained her ordeal, saying: “This time, it was in the middle of my tongue.”
There weren’t any obvious signs like lumps – only a relentless pain. Detailing her struggle with food, she said: “But I literally couldn’t eat food, not even tomato sauce.”
Doctors soon discovered a new mutation. In no time at all, Kimberley faced another surgery to remove 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.”
She shared her disbelief: “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].”
Surgeons also performed a right-side neck dissection to ensure the cancer hadn’t spread.
“Because of that, I now have a U-shape scar, like a smile, across my neck. But I was just happy to go home.”
However, Kimberley’s struggles were far from over. In June 2022, a routine follow-up scan flagged something up that turned out to be thyroid cancer, caught fortunately at an early stage. Given her medical history, by December doctors decided to proactively remove her thyroid and suspect lymph nodes.
While Kimberley has now stepped back from the brink of her cancer battle, she faces a continued fight for normalcy in her daily life and hopes to use her experience to raise awareness.
She further explained: “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 uses her Instagram account (@kimberleys_lifewiththeribbon) to share her journey and raise awareness, where she has amassed 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.