I Hope My Fight Inspires Others; Siwan Beat Leukaemia Now She Has 11 GCSEs

A NORTH Wales schoolgirl who beat cancer said last night she hoped her GCSE results would help inspire other youngsters.

Siwan Owen missed her first two years of secondary school after being diagnosed with leukaemia.

She underwent chemotherapy and was confined to a wheelchair.

But yesterday the 16-year-old, a pupil at Ysgol Glan Clwyd, St Asaph, was celebrating two A*s, five As and four Bs.

The student, from Trelogan, near Holywell, said: "When I learned I had cancer I took the view that I was going to beat it.

"I tend to be that type of person anyway. "So when I was later told that I’d have to spend a great deal of time in a wheelchair I was determined to deal with that positively as well.

"As time has gone by I’ve strengthened physically so as a result I am now able to cope more effectively with the pain I feel in my hips and shoulders.

"That in turn means that I need to use my wheelchair less and less although I’ll always need it as my problems will never leave me completely.

Siwan, who has two sisters Catrin, 20, and 18-year-old Llinos, spent much of the summer doing voluntary work with Barnardo’s.

She added: "I hope my story will help inspire other youngsters.

"By carrying on, no matter what, you can get there."

Lea Sautin, 13, of Llanbedrog was one of North Wales’ younger success stories getting an A* in French.

Her brother Owain was just 15 when he got an A in his A-level French last year.

The teenagers live in a bilingual household where both Welsh and French are spoken.

Dad Bernard hails from Paris while mum Marian is a French teacher at Ysgol Botwnnog, on the Lloen peninsula.

"As you can imagine French is often spoken in the house so verbally Lea had a head start," said Marian, 40, who met her husband on her year out in Brittany."

"She did, however, throw herself into her revision and really wanted to do well."

A mum-of-two sets of twins was also celebrating after getting a B in her maths GCSE.

Mandy Maloney, of Connah’s Quay, returned to school to encourage her kids to study.

She enrolled on a course at Denbigh Community College so she could help Charlotte and Emma, 13, and Olivia and Holly, 11, with their homework.

The 41-year-old said last night: "I’ve always tried to help them with their homework but they often used to tell me that they’d been taught to use a different method to solve various problems.

"So I decided to go back into education to see how it’s done these days and once I got into it Ithoroughly enjoyed it. "My husband Michael is an engineer so he’s quite mathematically inclined and he was very supportive too."

Many pupils across North Wales excelled in their GCSE exams.

Lindsay Solera-Deuchar, a pupil at Eirias High School, Colwyn Bay, got an amazing 11A*s.

At Alun School, Mold, Mari Davies got 10 A*s and two As.

While at Hawarden High School, Helen Monk was celebrating 10 A*s and an A and fellow pupil Rachel Davies nine A*s and two As.

At Ysgol Glan Clwyd, St Asaph, Non Davies, of Llandyrnog, and Lliwen Jones, of Denbigh, both got nine A*s and two As