'I was told my son had tonsillitis then diagnosis tipped my world upside down'

A mum whose son 'sounded like he was taking his last breath' claims doctors dismissed it as tonsillitis - only to discover it was leukaemia. Charlene Fudge took her three-year-old son Hugo Shepherd to the GP when his neck swelled up and his breathing changed and says she was told he has tonsillitis in January 2026. The mum of three says Hugo was unable to sleep, sounded like he was 'taking his last breath' and was suffering from a swollen neck that made him look like 'The Hulk'. After repeated visits to the GP, where she claims seven different medical professionals assured her his symptoms were 'swelling' from the tonsillitis, she was referred to hospital in February. There, the cleaning business owner told doctors she 'wasn't leaving' until she got answers and a blood test revealed Hugo had leukaemia. Following chemotherapy, Hugo is now cancer-free but is unable to go to nursery as he has to continue treatment for the next two years. Since Hugo's diagnosis, single mum Charlene has had to stop work to care for him and his twin brother Toby and eight-year-old sister Grace. Due to the financial strain, Charlene has set up a GoFundMe to help support the family. Charlene, from Maidenhead, Berkshire, said: "It tipped our world upside down completely. I was fighting for eight weeks to find out what was wrong with him. "He wasn't breathing very well every single evening - for about two and a half weeks he didn't sleep at all. He sounded like he's taking his last breath. At the time it was very, very scary. "He had a really big swollen neck. We joked he looked like The Hulk, his favourite character. It was the swelling of the lymph nodes from cancer. I didn't stop going to the doctors, saying 'I'm just not happy with this'. They kept fobbing me off saying that it was the swelling in the aftermath of the tonsillitis. "I just thought, 'enough is enough, I'm not leaving this hospital until I get answers'. It turns out he didn't have tonsillitis, he had cancer. It's hell, there's no other word. You've got to take him to the hospital and tell him every time that it's so he's going to get better but he's three, he doesn't understand." Now, Charlene is urging parents to 'trust their instincts' and get a second opinion if they feel like something is wrong. Charlene said: "Just trust your instinct - go with that mum gut feeling: it's as simple as that. If you feel something's not right, don't listen to them. "We were fobbed off. I'm just glad that I didn't stop. If I had just stopped and let it get worse, I don't even want to think about what could've happened because it could've been really bad. "The financial side of this is a big struggle, which is why I started this GoFundMe in the first place. It's very tough. I feel bad for every penny I take from it but it's only for things like a weekly food shop that my actual job would pay for usually. "I'm just sat at home with Hugo trying to get him better. I can't go out and work because there's no one else to look after him. We are aiming for school in September because I've got it in my heart that I want my twins to start school together. "That's my aim. I would really love it if that could actually happen." You can donate to Hugo's GoFundMe here .