Incredible GSCE results for Ripon teenager after being paralysed in life-changing accident
A Ripon Grammar School student paralysed in an accident just five months before his GCSEs has triumphed in his exams.
In a remarkable demonstration of determination, Ripon Grammar School student Alan Nowicki insisted on returning to school to take his exams and gained two top grade 9s, two 8s, two 7s, two 6s and one 5 and 4.
The 16-year-old learned of his results in Bangkok, where he is undergoing stem cell surgery over a period of five weeks before returning to school to take up A-levels in chemistry, maths and physics in mid-September.
Speaking from Thonburi Bamrungmuang hospital in Thailand’s capital city, Alan said: “I’m very happy with my results, it’s better than I expected.”
He is now excited to return to school: "I want to do well, get my A-levels and be with my friends," he said.
His mother Kamila, who is by his side in Bangkok, added: “I’m super proud of him.
"It’s been a very tough eight months for Alan but he was not defeated.
“He achieved amazing results in his GCSEs, especially in sciences.
"It has given him a huge boost of confidence.
"With a positive can-do attitude, anything is possible.”
The teenager praised the support he received from his teachers and other school staff:
“My friends kept me sane while I was away from school and home.
"On my return, it felt like I’d never been away.”
Alan was left unable to walk after falling from an exercise bar on December 9, breaking his back and crushing his spinal cord.
“I was out of school for four months leading up to my GCSEs,” he said.
"I had to undergo spinal surgery and intensive neurorehabilitation in Poland.
"I returned after the Easter break and sat my exams even though I was doing rehabilitation.”
Alan juggled his studies with three hours of daily rehabilitation, to help maintain his bone density and tone his muscles.
He also made time for a part-time job selling tickets at Ripon Races.
His mother, Kamila, said: “Alan was determined from the first day after his accident and surgery to sit his exams as planned."
Before his accident Alan dreamed of being an RAF pilot and his family are trying everything to help him regain his mobility.
He now hopes to study chemistry at university.
"I will not rest until I know that I have done everything," said Mrs Nowicki.
"It does not mean that Alan will walk again but I have to do everything I can to give him the chance.”
A Ripon fundraising campaign raised £20,000 in a week to pay for Alan to go to Poland for intensive rehabilitation, with additional money raised going towards buying all the physio equipment Alan requires, as well as a wheelchair.
A further fundraising campaign to help pay towards the stem cell treatment, which costs £95,000, raised half the money towards the treatment, flights and other costs, with Alan’s family taking out a loan to make up the difference.
Alan had his first lot of spinal surgery, taking four-and-a-half hours on August 11, when he had an epidural stimulator the first lot of stem cells implanted at Thonburi Bamrungmuang hospital.
The procedures aim to improve Alan’s muscle tone, voluntary movement and allow him to regain sensation in the lower parts of his body.