A woman who thinks she is Madeleine McCann could have cancer

Julia Wendell, 21, has submitted a DNA test in the hope that it will be confirmed that she is the British girl, who disappeared aged three from a Portuguese holiday apartment in 2007.

But Ms Wendell may be battling cancer, her spokeswoman has revealed, and she is awaiting test results for fear of having leukaemia.

“We are still awaiting the results of the DNA tests which will show us exactly what ethnicity Julia is and what country she and her real family are from. These types of tests are very accurate, ”said Ms Wendell’s representative and private investigator, Dr Fia Johansson. The sun.

“Of course, depending on the outcome, we will continue our investigation to see if Julia could be Madeleine or another missing person.

“But now the focus is on Julia as a person – not on Madeleine.

“She had a neglected childhood and suffered a lot of abuse.

“Her health is very bad, she suffers from bad asthma and she suffers a lot of pain in her bones.

“She is booked for a CT scan and MRI due to the pain in her bones.

“Her blood work is also abnormal, so my doctor here in the US is investigating whether she might have leukemia, so we are awaiting the results of that. And if she needs treatment, we will make sure she gets it. receive.

Ms Wendell has submitted samples for three different forensic examinations which will describe her DNA sequence, as well as a 23andMe-style genetic test to establish her ancestry.

If Ms Wendell’s ancestry comes from the same area as Madeleine’s parents, Gerry and Kate McCann, Dr Johansson said she would immediately send the DNA sequence to Portuguese investigators for comparison.

Ms Wendell – who said she “can’t remember most of my childhood” – previously said Madeleine’s parents agreed to a DNA test.

She claims the details of her childhood don’t add up, leading her to believe she was abducted as a toddler and has a spot in her right eye and a mole on the cheek similar to Madeleine.

Earlier this month, however, Pawel Noga from provincial police headquarters in Wroclaw told Polish newspaper Gazeta that authorities had ‘ruled out’ that Ms Wendell’s version of events was ‘true’, according to an English translation of the newspaper report.

In a 15-minute video posted to her Instagram, Ms Wendell and Dr Johansson refuted the officers’ statement.

Dr Johansson said ‘no police officer in Poland said that she (Julia) or that she was not Madeleine McCann’ and that it was ‘all lies’.

She said the couple also intended to ‘force’ Ms Wendell’s mother to submit to a DNA test.

Internet users have also speculated that Ms Wendell could be Swiss national Livia Schepp, who disappeared in 2011 with her six-year-old twin Alessia.

“Julia is very open to the idea that she could indeed be another missing child and they are hoping to do a DNA test with her family,” Dr Johansson recently told The Sun.

“I’ve spoken to her about it and she’s open that she could be any missing child, not just Madeleine. Julia just wants to know the truth about who she is.

“One of the reasons she made the connection to Madeleine is that one of the suspects in Madeleine’s case looks a lot like a man who she says abused her as a child.

“But the same man could be linked to Madeleine and other missing children – that’s how predators and traffickers work.

“Julia has taken a DNA test and we are investigating whether it is possible to verify her DNA with that of the missing Livia.

“We are exploring all possibilities at this stage.”

Ms Wendell’s family in Poland, meanwhile, spoke of their “devastation” at her claims.

“For us as a family, it is obvious that Julia is our daughter, granddaughter, sister, niece, cousin and niece-in-law. We have memories, we have photos,” the family said in a statement on Facebook, via Polish missing persons organization Missing Years Ago.

“Julia also has these photos, as she took them from the family home with the birth certificate, as well as many hospital discharges.

“We always tried to understand all the situations that happened with Julia. Many therapies, drugs, psychologists and psychiatrists – Julia had guaranteed everything. She was not left alone.

“Threats to our address from Julia, her lies and manipulation, internet activity. We saw everything and we tried to prevent him, to explain himself, we asked him to stop.

The family alluded to Ms Wendell’s motives, writing that she ‘always wanted to be popular’.

But, Dr Johansson urged the family to consider a DNA test and to ‘contact us directly so we can discuss the matter with them rather than post statements online’.

“Some of the information Julia has given us and the evidence we’ve seen doesn’t match what the family is saying, so we’d like to speak with them directly,” she told The Sun.

“It seems suspicious to me that Julia’s family are not taking a test, which could clear up these allegations very quickly.”