As thousands of students anxiously await the results of their GCSE exams today, QEHB Charity is delighted to announce that 20 GCSEs were sat by our young patients with cancer, thanks to support from a specialist teacher funded by your donations.

With your help, QEHB Charity funds a specialist teacher for patients on the Teenage Cancer Trust Young Persons Unit at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital Birmingham.

Lisa Conley supports patients through all aspects of their education whilst they are receiving treatment, including providing career advice and exam support. She said: “During the busy exam period it has been especially important to support our teenagers with cancer.

“This year 18 GCSE exams were sat and invigilated on the hospital ward, and two exams were sat at home with an invigilator sent from the patient’s own school.

“As well as this, 25% extra time and 4% special consideration grading was successfully applied for in all 20 exams, and special consideration grading was also granted for two siblings of young patients with cancer. For one patient, five exams were also supported by visual impaired access, which included enlarged papers and specialist writing equipment.

“Without this support many of these young patients would have struggled to sit their exams, missing out entirely because of their illness. Thanks to QEHB Charity 20 exams were taken and our patients can be very proud of what they’ve achieved.”

Mike Hammond, Chief Executive at QEHB Charity, said: “This is a fantastic example of how our supporters’ generous donations help fund those added extras that are not paid for by the NHS.

“We’d like to congratulate patients for completing their exams, despite facing great adversity, and wish them the best of luck for their results.”

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