Sophie Barclay was 15 when diagnosed with a brain tumour, making schooling and exams difficult. Now 18, she tells us how, with the support of her school, she has received a conditional offer for university.
In the years leading up to my diagnosis, I was suffering with severe migraines that would blur my vision and make me sick, while also dealing with severe anxiety. My anxiety was so bad that my school attendance was severely affected in year 10 and, when I finally went back, I did my work in my own room. My school was very supportive and was able to prepare me to go back into all my classrooms. Just as everything was starting to look up, the right side of my face went numb, which then prompted the doctors to finally refer me to a neurologist after two years of being turned away. The neurologist sent me for an MRI, and I was then diagnosed with a pilocytic astrocytoma in the middle of my GCSE exams. The removal of this tumour left me with posterior fossa syndrome, meaning I had to learn how to walk, talk and eat again. I was given my predicted grades for the two exams I’d missed while in hospital. These grades were high enough for me to take the A-levels I’d chosen before my brain tumour was diagnosed.
I went back to school six weeks after getting out of hospital, and my school agreed to let me do my A-levels over three years, so I’d have more time to focus on my recovery. This meant that my first year was spent focusing on only one of my A-levels. While taking this A-level, it became evident that I wouldn’t be able to write my exams out, like I previously had. This is because the posterior fossa syndrome has also affected my fine motor skills. Returning to school was a lot different to how it was before as I also got tired a lot quicker, which may have been because of how focused I was on my recovery.
My school offered extra support for my exams, which positively affected my results. They gave me 50% extra time taking them, they let me have rest breaks and they let me type my answers, so I didn’t have to tire myself out even more by writing. At the start of the course, I was getting near passes in my exams, and by the end, I was achieving merits.
The school also used my education, health and care plan to give me a learning support assistant to help me get around school and take any notes I’d missed. This really helped me keep up with and focus on my work, knowing I didn’t have to worry about how I was going to get around school.
In the second year, I was further along in my recovery and was able to pick up my other two A-levels, with the support still in place from the school. While doing my three A-levels, I was still attending weekly physiotherapy appointments every Thursday. School wanted to make sure that my fatigue wouldn’t affect me too much, so they let me go home and rest in my free periods. In the second year, I also finished my first A-level, receiving a pass overall.
I’m currently in my third and final year of A-levels and have received a conditional offer from De Montfort University. I’m currently finishing off my final two A-levels and started my exams in May.
My advice for other young people going back to school following a cancer diagnosis is to keep going. At the start, it may feel overwhelming and different to how it was before, but if you stick at it, it does get better.
From Contact magazine issue 103 | Summer 2024
