'I've done amazing': Chesterfield boy proves he's a fighter by beating cancer then passing his GCSEs

• 'I've done amazing', the proud teenager said after receiving his results

A brave teen has impressed many after fighting cancer just months before passing his GCSEs - having squeezed a whole academic year into just five weeks.

Preparing for your GCSEs can be a scary time for anyone, but there was even more pressure for 16-year-old student William Barlow, who, whilst studying for exams, was fighting cancer.

For Mr Barlow, his time as a year 10 pupil at Netherthorpe School in Chesterfield was completely disrupted; he describes his final year in secondary school as a 'right fight', as he couldn't regularly attend school due to tiredness.

But William has proved time and time again just how much of a fighter he is.

The 16-year-old, from Langwith near Bolsover, was first diagnosed with a form of Hodgkin Lymphoma that had never previously been seen in the UK after finding a lump in his neck.

He had a nine-hour operation to remove lymph nodes from his neck before having chemotherapy.

After getting the all-clear from cancer in April this year, he made the decision to go back to school and completed the whole academic year in just five weeks, before taking his GCSE exams.

A decision that paid off as William opened his white envelope this morning, to find he had passed most of his exams.

On finding out his results, William said: "I've done amazing, I've done much better than I thought I would, I've got passes in pretty much everything.

"Much better than I was thinking I would get to say the time I had to prepare. I'm just really shocked, I'm in a state of shock, I just really can't believe it."

• 'It's not been easy at all' - William battled cancer while studying for his GCSEs

He told us about his journey to sitting his exams: "It's not been easy at all. I mean all of year 10 was disrupted, and then year 11 that's just been a right fight, because most of the year I couldn't attend school, I was too tired.

"I would go home and not have enough energy, I'd just fall straight to sleep, I'd not feel great at all.

"I was really knocked out of it and knocked off my feet, but after I got the all clear in April, I managed to go back and sit all my GCSEs and everything in five weeks and prepare for it in that time, so I think I've done quite good."

It's not the first time this summer that William has done something that stands out from the crowd.

He made an 'arresting entrance' at his prom when he was handcuffed and driven to prom in the back of a police van.

The Shirebrook Safer Neighbourhood Team at Derbyshire Police helped him to plan the grand entrance.

They "arrested" William and two of his friends before driving them in convoy with another police car and a fire engine to the event at the Van Dyke Hotel in Clowne.

After arriving with sirens blaring and lights flashing, William and his friends were "de-arrested" in front of fellow classmates and parents.

William is now looking ahead to his future.

He'll start sixth form in the next few weeks to study history, geography and psychology, with the hope to go into law.

He said: "I hope being arrested for being too cool for school won't affect that!"

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