1:57pm Tuesday 24th August 2010
By Andy Carswell
BRAVE Aaron West battled through treatment for cancer to achieve six A grades in his GCSEs.
Doctors at Oxford's John Radcliffe hospital told the Amersham teenager he might not be able to take his exams this year after he was diagnosed with cancer in February.
The 16-year-old picked up his results at the Amersham School this morning – and vowed to beat the disease and get back to his normal life.
He said: “Before all this, I was playing football for Wycombe Wanderers and the county. As soon as I got told, my head dropped. I thought, 'It's all over'.
“My plan is to get over this and get back into football. I just need to persevere.”
Aaron said receiving his exam results had given him the extra determination to overcome the cancer.
“It's given me a lift now,” he said. “Seeing the results, I feel I can do anything.”
He battled through serious illness in order to take his GCSEs.
He sat his PE exam at home under exam conditions as he was too ill to come into school, and in another he twice had to leave the exam hall in order to be sick.
Aaron said: “I had a migraine during my Spanish exam but I managed to do it.
“I came in and said, 'I know what you've heard but I wish to take them'.”
He has so far undergone two chemotherapy sessions and has been told he may require surgery in a few weeks' time.
“I can't really plan ahead now,” Aaron said. “I was going to go to Spain for a football tournament but now I'm planning days and weeks in advance instead.”
But he has his sight set on continuing his education at Amersham School next year, where he will be studying human biology, psychology, PE and business studies at AS level.
He thanked staff at the school for all the support they had given him throughout his treatment and exams.
“The school has been so supportive to me,” he said. “They have been there every step of the way. If I needed time out, they would give that time to me.”
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