A STOURPORT student has scored highly in her GCSE results, despite suffering from a rare genetic disorder and caring for her mum.

Lucy Fellows, 16, who attended the Stourport High School and VIth Form Centre, said she had given up her social life to revise for her exams earlier this summer.

The hard work paid off when she opened her results last Thursday to find she had gained 10 As and two A*s.

As well as battling with her school subjects, Lucy has had to cope with Ehlers-Danlos Syndrome (EDS) and looks after mother Louise who suffers from a severe form of the same condition, which causes constant joint pains and fatigue.

She has also had to prepare for the Girl Guiding ‘jailbreak challenge’ trip around Europe.

Lucy said: “I expected to do OK but I have done a lot better than I thought I would. I worked really hard and did a lot of revision.

“It was very difficult to prepare for the jailbreak challenge at the same time but I stuck to my schedule and did not have any spare time.”

The youngster, who last year carried the Olympic Torch through Ludlow, is staying in Stourport to study Spanish, biology, psychology and English literature at A-level.

“I want to go to university after that but I don’t know what degree I want to study yet,” she added. “Maybe Spanish and I could do a year abroad.”

Mrs Fellows said: “It has been a very busy summer and year for Lucy but she has worked very hard juggling everything and we are so proud of her results.

“It was better than expected and with the news in the last few days [about a drop in the number of teenagers achieving higher GCSE grades] we just did not know what to expect.”

Stourport High School headteacher, Liz Quinn, also praised Lucy’s efforts.

“She is an amazing student,” she said. “She works really hard to look after her mother, faces her own health issues and it does not stop her from getting involved in anything."