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GCSE results 2010: Teen battled both cancer and exams
Mikhail Devitt, from Thomas Deacon Academy, who battled against Hodgkins lymphoma to get top GCSE results. (METP-24-08-10BD121) Picture: Ben Davis
A TEENAGE cancer victim from Peterborough is celebrating a host of top GCSE grades, despite missing more than six months of school to undergo treatment.
While most of his pals were busy preparing for the biggest exams of their lives, Mikhail Devitt (16) was battling Hodgkin’s lymphoma - a form of cancer which originates in the white blood cells.
Doctors diagnosed the Thomas Deacon Academy pupil, of South Street, Stanground, with the disease in December last year after finding a lump in his throat.
Mikhail was taken out of his school to undergo a series of operations and treatment at Addenbrooke’s Hospital, in Cambridge.
However, while in the hospital, he was visited by tutors who helped him to continue his studies.
Following several courses of chemotherapy and radiotherapy, Mikhail was put into remission just weeks before his exams.
It meant he could return to school to sit his exams alongside his friends - and yesterday he reaped the rewards of his hard work.
Mikhail opened his results to find he had scored seven As and two A*s.
Afterwards, he said: “I feel over the moon.
“I was so nervous when I was opening them. I also got a C in Spanish, which I’m ecstatic about as I thought I had failed it.
“I’d missed school from the start of December until the date of my exams.
“But while I was on chemotherapy, I was still studying through the hospital.
“They sorted me out with some tutors who used to come in to see me.
“The people at the hospital were brilliant. They really helped me.”
Mikhail said it was particularly hard, as the chemotherapy made him feel “pretty much constantly” ill.
However he was determined to score highly, even going through the pain barrier to complete his exams.
He said: “I found it difficult to write because some of the drugs made my hands painful so I had a teaching assistant as a scribe.
“It was quite strange and took some getting used to. So I thought I just have to go through the pain and write it myself.”
Mikhail, who is staying on at the school to study his A-levels, still has to visit hospital for regular check ups.
His proud mum Brenda (47) said: “He’s done so well and I’m a really proud mum.
“The cancer came as a complete shock to us because he’s so fit. He treats his body like a temple.
“It’s been really hard for everyone.”
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Weather for Peterborough
Saturday 04 February 2012
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Sunny spells
Temperature: -1 C to 2 C
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