Woman who claims to be Madeleine McCann in 'poor health and may have leukaemia'

17 March 2023, 09:37 | Updated: 17 March 2023, 10:55

By Kieran Kelly

@kellyjourno

A woman who claims to be Madeleine McCann is in "poor health" and "could have leukaemia", her spokesperson has said.

Julia Wendell, 21, hit the headlines after claiming to be Madeleine, who was last seen on family holiday in Portugal in 2007.

Ms Wendell was taken to California by private detective Dr Fia Johansson, after receiving death threats in her native Poland.

Dr Johansson claims to have evidence that shows "Julia was definitely trafficked to Poland".

The doctor, who acts as Ms Wendell's spokesperson, told The Sun she “has bad asthma" and "suffers lots of pain in her bones".

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

“Her blood work is also abnormal so my doctor here in the US is investigating whether she could have leukaemia so we are awaiting the results of that.

"And if she needs any treatment we will make sure she gets that."

Read More: Woman who thinks she is Madeleine McCann could be American family's 'missing daughter'

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Google Search appeared to have adjusted the photo to Julia, instead of pictures of Madeleine - most likely in error as the search engine's image results feature shows the top-ranking Google Images for the search term in question.

Julia has flown to America and is reportedly living in a safe house there.

Ms Johansson wrote on Instagram: "She said this is the first time she feels she has a family that cares. My kids and my dogs love her angelic personality."

She has been sharing images of Julia on Instagram, showing Julia visiting attractions like Universal Studios.

Julia's parents will not take a DNA test but her parents deny her claims. Ms Johansson insists she had not been able to find records of the first five years of her life in Wroclaw, where she is thought to have grown up.