Wendy thanks '˜amazing' QA doctor who has saved her life three timesÂ

Wendy Woodage says she owes her life three times over to her colleague Dr Suresh Babu who discovered she had liver cancer in 2015, a tumour in her heart and litres of fluid on her lungs earlier this year. 

The 59-year-old is an administration manager in the respiratory department at Queen Alexandra Hospital in Cosham.

She said: '˜I was working and cut my arm on a door key.

'˜It would not stop bleeding and Dr Babu was concerned, so sent me for a blood test. This showed I needed a scan on my liver so I was referred by my GP for scan which showed I had liver cancer.'

The mother-of-two from Eastney had 22 tumours in her body that had to be removed via surgery and chemotherapy despite Wendy having a hole in her heart.

She said: '˜Dr Babu has supported me both as a doctor and colleague while I was off work and when I returned, always making sure that I was okay.'

Wendy returned to her role but in March this year she began to feel ill.

The soon-to-be grandmother-of-three said: '˜At first I just thought it was nothing just a cold but my family wanted me to get checked out when it turned into more of a chest infection.

'˜I had an x-ray which showed an enlarged heart and Dr Babu ordered a CT scan which showed a mass in my heart.

'˜I was given hours to live and my family and Dr Babu gathered round me at the hospital and I went home with everything in place to die.'

Wendy then had shortness of breath and went back into hospital in a wheelchair as she couldn't walk due to the pain.

She said: '˜I couldn't breathe and I was at work and Dr Babu came running towards me to say I needed to have a drain as an x-ray had showed I had four litres of fluid on my lung.

'˜Suresh was straight on the case and told me he had four patients to see and he said you are not going home because you have fluid on your chest.'

Four litres of fluid were drained off Wendy's lung and she had a drain fitted which over the following two weeks collected another nine litres.

She added: '˜It was a very scary time but I am still here today due to Suresh's expert work.'

She has just finished a round of radiotherapy and chemotherapy. 

Dr Babu said: '˜Wendy was quite unwell when she was with the cardiology team with the fluid on her heart and personally we didn't think she would make it.

'˜But she has proved us wrong as always.'

Wendy nominated Dr Babu for a Patient Choice award at QA's Pride of Portsmouth Awards which he won at the event held last week.

She added: '˜Dr Babu's patient care is priceless, he is a credit and an incredibly hard working doctor. 

'˜There are so many people at the hospital that I could have nominated for their amazing care as well but QA Hospital are very lucky to have such a caring doctor, he has been amazing with my family too.

'˜This is really only a short version of how amazing Dr Babu is.'

Dr Suresh Babu has been a consultant respiratory physician at Portsmouth Hospital Trusts since 2011.

He added: '˜How does it feel to be nominated for this award? Surprised as I did not expect it at all - still so surprised!'