A-level results day: Grace’s dream to study Physics at Durham
Grace, a young adult carer from Bexleyheath, has been waiting to get her A-level results for weeks, just like millions of other young people across the UK.
But Grace isn’t like most other 18-year-olds. For the past four years, Grace has been caring for her mum who lives with an alcohol addiction, a rare type of blood cancer, anxiety and depression.
This involves a range of physical tasks every day, such as helping mum move around the house or clearing up after her. Grace also provides a great deal of emotional support to her mum, helping her to manage all the ups and downs that often come with living with a mental health condition.
And she’s had to juggle all this with the heavy workload of revising for her exams. It has been an almost impossible task at times.
Grace said: “It’s been very difficult, every hour of the day I’m either caring for my mum, or I’m revising, with no break time. There’s not really an easy way to do it, I just kind of get through it.”
“It’s very battering at times when you’re caring for someone to realise they just won’t get better. I have found myself being jealous of my friends who don’t have any caring responsibilities. They have a lot more time to study and good grades seem to come a lot easier to them.”
“But I’ve kind of learned to turn my caring responsibility into a positive thing, as it’s given me a lot of skills that my friends don’t have. Being responsible for someone else at such a young age has definitely made me more mature. And it’s definitely made me more resilient."
"There’s a lot that it takes away, but there’s also a lot that it gives you.”
This morning, Grace was delighted to find out that she got the grades she needed and has been accepted to study Physics at Durham University. This means she is well on her way to following her dream of becoming a Quantum Physicist!
Listen to Grace this morning on BBC Radio Kent from 8.10am onwards
Find out more about the work we do to support young adult carers in transition from school to university or employment – visit our Young Carers Futures hub.
If you would you to help us support more carers like Grace you can donate to Carers Trust,
Read about another A-Level success story with Jordyn. An incredible feat of perseverance and resilience, young adult carer Jordyn cared for both parents with complex needs while studying for A-Levels.
