A woman who was forced to have a third of her tongue cut out after pain from her braces turned out to be cancer, has shared her recent battle with kidney failure.
Kimberley Hattersley-Barton, from Wakefield, West Yorkshire, was first diagnosed with bladder cancer when she was just 13 months old.
Over two decades later, the 26-year-old was re-diagnosed several times as doctors found new cancers in her body.
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They discovered a mass on her tongue, then a few years later, cancer in her thyroid.
Now, one year after being cancer-free, she’s revealed another battle; kidney failure.
“I started renal dialysis for my condition [a few months ago], Kimberley told Need To Know.
“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.
“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.”
Looking at her prognosis, doctors delivered devastating news.
Kimberley would have to undergo radiotherapy for six and a half weeks and then surgery to remove the part of her tongue that was affected.
She said: “They had to remove the back third of my tongue.
“After the surgery, it was a long, hard and tiring time.
“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.
“I was very weak after the surgery as well.
“By the end of treatment, I was just completely drained and just really frail.
“I lost so much weight, I couldn’t get up by myself, I was living off supplement drinks
“It was really painful – these are harsh memories that I do struggle to look back on.”
Despite the harrowing experience, Kimberley was glad to be in the clear and looking forward to moving on with her life.
Sadly, there was more bad news on the horizon.
The first surgery took place in 2016 but just four years later, the young woman noticed that her tongue was a little more sore than usual.
The cancer was back.
She said: “This time, it was in the middle of my tongue.
“There were no particular lumps or bumps, but it was just more painful than usual.
“But I literally couldn’t eat food, not even tomato sauce.
“I was told [by doctors] that there was a new mutation.
“Within weeks, I was booked in for them to take out even more of my 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 over 700 followers.
In April this year, she held a charity gala to raise money for three charities which have supported her throughout the journey – with over £10,000 raised.
Now, she’ll be holding a second event, Life With The Ribbon: Charity Gala on 10 May 2025, to once again raise funds and to celebrate five years of being in remission.
TIMELINE:
January 1999: Diagnosed with rhabdomyosarcoma cancer at 13 months old.
4 February 2016: Diagnosed with tongue cancer, surgery soon after.
5 May 2020: Surgery date after being diagnosed with tongue cancer for the second time.
June 2022: Diagnosed with thyroid cancer.
5 December 2022: Surgery for thyroid cancer.
August 2024: Renal dialysis begins, after being diagnosed with kidney failure.
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