Tony Hudgell honoured for hospital fundraising

Tony Hudgell and his mother Paula with a copy of his commemorative tile

A nine-year-old boy who raised £1.8m for charity said he is "so happy and proud" to be honoured by the hospital that saved his life.

Tony Hudgell, from West Malling in Kent, was surprised on Thursday with a ceiling tile depicting him as an astronaut in a new space-themed unit at Evelina London Children's Hospital.

The hospital has received £500,000 from his fundraising.

The tile, which shows Tony with his crutches, prosthetic legs and a name badge, will serve as an "everlasting legacy" of his support for the new Children's Day Surgery Unit, which opened to patients in July 2023.

Tony has received specialist and life-saving treatment at the children's hospital since he was a baby.

He was assaulted by his birth parents, an attack which meant both his legs had to be amputated.

Tony Hudgell has been honoured for his fundraising efforts for the Evelina Hospital

At the age of five, Tony challenged himself to walk every day in June to raise money for Evelina London Children's Charity with an initial target of £509, and four years later, he is the charity's biggest fundraiser to date.

To thank him for his efforts, Tony and his adopted mother Paula Hudgell were given a tour of the new outer-space themed unit.

During the visit Tony was reunited with his surgeon Michail Kokkinakis,

During the tour, Tony was asked to look up and was thrilled to see himself portrayed as an astronaut on the ceiling tile, saying: "I'm so happy and proud."

Ms Hudgell said: "You always want to help the hospital that helped your child - the hospital is so important to us and it saved his life.

"It still seems surreal that he raised that amount of money and it's just wonderful to be able to give back."

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