Jodie's marathon bid for city's Children's Hospital

Jodie Goulden was rushed to the Children’s Hospital when she was just 15, suffering from one of the most unusual appendicitis cases the hospital had ever seen.

Jodie’s bladder and intestines had wrapped around her enlarging appendix giving her two choices: have surgery to remove her appendix, which would cause irreparable damage to her vital organs, or wait for her bladder and intestines to unravel, risking the chance of her appendix rupturing inside her.

Jodie, now aged 27, of Wadsley Bridge, said: “I was lucky enough to be under the care of an incredible surgeon, Dr. Godbole. He was reluctant to operate because the damage the surgery would do to my organs could have left me relying on a colostomy bag for the rest of my life. But I didn’t seem to be getting any better and if my appendix ruptured inside of me it was going to do a huge amount of damage too.”

The team looking after Jodie waited for two weeks, keeping her nil-by-mouth so that she could be operated on within a moment’s notice, should her appendix start to rupture.

“Before the surgery I had one last scan and by some miracle everything had gone back to normal – literally overnight!” said Jodie, who is now an accountant.

“My bladder had unravelled and I was showing signs of getting better. Dr. Godbole said he’d never seen anything like it before. He said me appendix case had rewritten the medical history books and it meant that I could have my appendix taken out as normal which was such a relief.”

“When I heard that everything had gone back to normal I couldn’t believe it. I’d been psyching myself up for this operation and I was terrified because I’m frightened of needles. I was having cannulas in my hands every day and it was horrible.”

Jodie is now preparing to run this year’s London Marathon on behalf of The Children’s Hospital Charity as a way of thanking the hospital that saved her.

“The Children’s Hospital Charity is amazing. I know first-hand how much work goes into making the hospital such an incredible place. Raising money for the charity is my way of repaying the hospital for the treatment I got as a teenager, and helping other children get better.”