A teenager who endured 44 operations for a rare skull condition has thanked a North Wales School for helping him achieve his dream of becoming a doctor.
Thomas Pearce, 19, from Old Colwyn, spent months away from lessons recovering from surgery to treat Pfeiffer Syndrome, a genetic disorder that affects one in 100,000 children.
The incurable condition causes the skull to prematurely fuse in the womb, distorting the shape of the head and face.
But despite the setbacks Thomas secured the grades he needed to study at Cardiff University.
The aspiring doctor, who as bullied as a child because of his condition, says St David’s College in Llandudno transformed him from a shy 11 year old into a fun-loving teenager, helping stay on track academically during some of the toughest periods of his life.
Now, after completing the first year of his medical degree, Thomas made an emotional return to the school to say a heartfelt thank you to the teachers and staff he says played a crucial role in turning his life around.
Thomas said: “When I was at primary school, I went through a lot of bullying because of my medical condition and my time spent in hospital.
“I think that took a toll on my confidence, so when I came into St David’s initially, I was very shy and I didn’t want to engage much with teachers.
“I had a big problem with eye contact, I just wouldn’t look anybody in the eye.
“I tried to keep myself to myself as much as possible, though I had a couple of trusted, close friends.
“But then going through St David’s, that just completely shifted thanks to the support of the school, and I started to love making new friends and engaging with the teachers.
“There was always good banter in the classrooms and I now class all of my teachers from St David’s as close friends.
“Looking back from when I first joined St David’s, the chances of me becoming the university student and person I have become, I think was basically zero.
“So going from there to where I was at the end of St David’s, where I was going into medicine, which is a very social and team-based environment, I think is extraordinary.”
Thomas achieved an A* in biology, an A in physics, an A in chemistry and an A in AS maths.
He also achieved 10 A* and one A in the 11 GCSE exams he sat while at St David’s.
The courageous teenager was a day student at St David’s College, which offers boarding and day student options and has 260 pupils.
Thomas said: “The simplest way to describe my medical condition, which is Pfeiffer Syndrome Type 2, is that my skull doesn’t grow as normally as it would from birth.
“It means I have had to have a lot of surgeries to make space for my brain to grow into, since the skull wouldn’t grow on its own.
“I think I have had 44 surgeries, and the operations are very specialist stuff, with all of them being done at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool.
“I also have hydrocephalus, so I have got a shunt which drains fluid away.
“In my GCSE exams year, I think I had over three months off school because I had loads of problems with my shunt going wrong, I had three or four surgeries.
“But the teachers always caught me up with my studies, they would spend time after class helping me.
“I remember I was really worried for my English language GCSE and my English teacher came in on the last weekend before the exam and spent hours teaching me.
“The start of Year 13 was also difficult because in the summer I had a very big surgery to correct my massive underbite and help me eat properly.The operation lasted 14 hours.
“I was not allowed to chew for two months after the surgery because they had done so much, so I lost 9kg in weight.
“Because I couldn’t chew, the cooking staff at the school would make specific meals for me so I could eat, such as mash and fish pie.
“I honestly think that with all the lessons I missed at school and all the other support, if I wasn’t at St David’s I would never have caught up with my studies.”
According to Thomas, suffering from such a serious health condition had a strong influence on his decision to follow a career in the medical profession.
Thomas said: “Because I have been exposed to it for so long, I always looked up to the surgeons for what they did for me, and I wanted to be like them from an early age.”
Thomas’s mum Nicki Pearce thanked St David’s for everything they had done for her son.
She said: “I remember when we came to one of the St David’s open days before he joined, and he had a look around, and said ‘I could be safe here, this could be good’.
“He had missed about 30 to 40 per cent of his primary school because of his health condition, and he needed to be somewhere where they could nurture him – St David’s College was that place.”
The family’s connection to the school has continued through Thomas’s younger brother Ollie.
The 16-year-old, a talented cellist and member of the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, has just completed his GCSE exams at the school.
St David’s College headmaster Andrew Russell said: “Thomas is an inspirational young man who has refused to be defined by his health issues or his surgeries – he has never used any of his worries or issues as an excuse.
“When he first came here, we knew he was a clever boy, but it was paramount that he felt safe.
“About 700 schools across the whole of the UK are part of the Independent Schools Association and Thomas won the award for the most outstanding student sixth former, and quite honestly, there was no competition, he is an extraordinary young man.”
