BOXER'S BIGGEST BATTLE

WHEN Charlie Dugdale was five, he would stand in the boxing gym wearing gloves twice the size of his tiny arms, bouncing on his toes as though he belonged there.

- BY MATTHEW BARBOUR

"His body was so small and skinny, and then he had these enormous gloves on," laughs mum Danni, 41. "But he looked completely at home. Boxing was all he wanted to do."

Charlie trained under the watchful eye of dad Tom known as Duggie a Royal Navy submariner and coach. "They spent hours together on the pads," Danni says. "If Tom wasn't at sea, he and Charlie were in the gym. When we moved to Liskeard, Charlie joined Combat gym straight away. He lived and breathed the sport."

By 16, Charlie was strong, fit and determined. He joined the Navy in July 2021, following in his dad's footsteps, and planned to box competitively while building his military career. "It was his dream since he was seven," Danni says. "He sailed through his Naval selection, he was as fit as a butcher's dog, in the shape of his life."

But beneath his strength, something dangerous was happening.

Early in 2022, Charlie began feeling unusually tired. "He told me he felt foggy, short of breath, he couldn't keep up in the gym," Danni recalls. "We thought maybe he was burning the candle at both ends - working hard, going out with mates."

'I watched as my son's body shut down'

Things got worse. Charlie was forgetful, exhausted and breathless. Danni repeatedly begged Navy medics for tests. "They just said he was immature and had low mood," she says. "But this wasn't Charlie."

By September 2022, the Navy was preparing to medically discharge him. "He was being labelled a problem, but I knew he was unwell," Danni claims. "I asked again for blood tests. They refused."