Teen carer dreams of being a pilot after top grades

A YOUNG carer who looks after her mum and sister picked up top GCSE grades and dreams of being an RAF pilot.

Mary Immaculate High School pupil Oreoluwa Egbetola got three As, six Bs and five Cs, after months of studying while helping to care for her family.

The 16-year-old said she has had an “obsession” with planes since she was a toddler and hopes to fly them herself one day.

Oreoluwa balanced her studying and revision with caring for her mum and younger sister.

Oreoluwa, from Barry, said: “I have been a carer since I was about eight years old.

“I really don’t know how I managed with it all. I feel like I’m lucky enough to have had lots of support from home and from school too.

“I knew my priorities and where my time should go and I made sure that I didn’t just focus on my exams but on my own wellbeing too.

“I didn’t stop most of my extracurricular activities either, but I just did less of them.

“So if I couldn’t make basketball training say, then I’d just go for a jog instead.

“I kept up exercising and tried to eat healthily but you don’t know how many chocolate doughnuts I wanted!”

Around eight years ago Oreoluwa’s mum Keji, 46, suffered from kidney failure.

Since then Keji has spent a lot of time in hospital which included around a month in a coma.

Oreoluwa said: “She fell really, really ill. She’s been in and out of hospital and in and out of comas since.

“She was in in a coma last November for a month, which was really hard. We were always back and forth to the hospital.”

Oreoluwa said: “I know she (Keji) will be very happy with my results.”

Oreoluwa said she has to make sure her mum has eaten and taken her medicine and takes care of her hygiene to prevent infections.

She also does the shopping and looks after the house.

Oreoluwa also cares for her