Rhys beats all odds to win university place

OVERCOMING ALL ODDS: Rhys Smith

A-LEVELS: TO say North Chadderton School pupil Rhys Smith has had it tough would be an understatement.

Throughout his school life Rhys has been in and out of hospital, had major surgery several times and suffers constant pain.

Rhys has Still’s Disease, a form of arthritis diagnosed when he was seven. Two years later he developed Crohn’s Disease. At 12 he developed osteoporosis and papilloedema (eye haemorrhaging) which forced an emergency operation to relieve pressure on his brain. The operation wasn’t entirely successful and scans revealed further brain problems and the need for more surgery.

Though he has missed around 70 per cent of his school life, Rhys — voted head boy by his peers — was delighted to pick up three Ds in chemistry, physics and biology.

“My illnesses mean I can’t study for long periods of time; the pressure on my brain starts to build up and getting stressed makes it worse.

“I have had lots of time off and it has been hard to keep up with the work as there is so much more to learn for A-Levels.”

Rhys will now study biology at Manchester Metropolitan University

MORE profiles of our top Oldham students in tonight’s eChron - and lots of pictures from today’s successes on the “buy a photo” tab above.