A BRAVE teen who battled cancer during his studies and revised for exams while undergoing chemotherapy passed all his GCSEs – even achieving the highest possible marks in some of them.

Sam Woodfield felt ill and exhausted for months shortly after starting Year 11 at Kingsdown School, but didn’t know why.

In February, he was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma and underwent four months of chemotherapy in Oxford from March while continuing his studies as much as possible.

He took 19 exams and passed every single one of them, achieving nines in history, geography and English literature.

A nine is the new equivalent of an A*.

Sam, 16, said: “I felt incredibly tired every day and would go straight to bed after I got home from school. I thought it might be cancer, especially when I found lumps on my neck.

“After they were removed, the surgeon said there was just a lymph node infection left to treat, so the diagnosis was a shock. I didn’t really focus on it, I just tried to put it out of my mind as much as I could and try to get through the exams.

“During the chemotherapy sessions, I’d revise as much as I could because I knew that once I returned home, I’d be too tired to do it.”

He’s had the all-clear since the end of July and just now has to have check-ups every few months.

In September, he’s heading to Cirencester College to study history, geography, geology, and environmental studies.

Sam added: “I feel great now, and I didn’t expect these results at all.

“Opening the envelope and seeing all those passes was a nice feeling, I don’t know how I did it.”

His mum Nicci celebrated her birthday on the same day of the GCSE results.

She said: “I’m so proud of him, this is the best birthday present ever, he’s amazing.

“It’s been a difficult year for Sam.

“He had to stop playing rugby, which he loved, and there’d be weeks where he’d have to go to John Radcliffe Hospital for treatment every day for five days.

“I can’t believe how well he’s done, and the school have been so helpful and supportive during these past few months.”

John Rumble, director of progress for Key Stage 4 at Kingsdown School, and progress leader Liz Mayhew helped Sam with his studies.

John said: “I watched him open his results and he had the biggest smile I’ve seen from him in a long time, which is fantastic.

“He’s done fantastically well, he takes everything in his stride and he’s very modest.

“While he had chemo, we organised separate revision sessions for him with his mum when he could come to school, arranged for separate exam sessions, and the head of English Sharma Manners went to his home for two days in half-term to help him, so it’s been a real team effort.

“Nicci has been brilliant, she’s so methodical about how this was going to work, she’s been so supportive of Sam and us.

“We are so thrilled and amazed by what he’s achieved, Sam is an inspiration to everyone else at the school.”