A STUDENT who underwent surgery to remove a brain tumour over the course of her GCSE studies said at one time she did not think she would achieve any grades.

But Georgina Rich from Grantham Avenue, Great Cornard, who attends Great Cornard Upper School and Technology College, has managed to achieve Cs overall in English, maths and science, which she said she had been hoping for.

The 16-year-old underwent major surgery in May time last year to remove a benign brain tumour the size of a golf ball, which had been affecting her behaviour and vision and caused terrible headaches.

She said an eyetest at Specsavers in Sudbury picked up swelling at the back of her eye and all in the same day she had a scan at West Suffolk Hospital in Bury St Edmunds and was transferred to Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge. She was operated on a week later.

Following surgery Georgina was in a wheelchair until last September and she was receiving tuition at home.

She said: “I didn’t think I was really going to get any results. Nobody did really. I didn’t think I was going to be able to pull it off. I went from doing five hours a week of work to 20 hours a week of work with the exams.”

Georgina is hoping to study IT and graphics at Suffolk One in Ipswich with the grades she had achieved.

David Chiang, assistant headteacher at Great Cornard Upper School and Technology College, said: “I have to say we noticed a really positive change in her post surgery. It was as if she had almost seen the light. And her determination was clear when she came out.”

Other students from the school who did extremely well were Sadie Belsey with 10 A*s, Melody Gould with nine A*s and one A and Matthew Stephens-Rowe with eight A*s and two As.