Trooper Hollie wins her battles against adversity

After battling adversity to get her honours degree, the 21-year-old is already planning for an adventure of a lifetime on the other side of the world.

University life was an uphill struggle for the woman who has been in hospital 13 times since enrolling for a degree in education and social work.

She has had two operations and is about to undergo another.

Hollie was diagnosed with Kyphoscoliosis, which causes a curvature of the spine, when she was a teenager and had steel rods inserted into her back.

Despite being in and out of hospital with additional problems, including appendicitis, Hollie refused to let her health prevent her from completing her three-year course on time.

She said: “I took my uni work to hospital on several occasions.

“It has been hard but I am really glad that I had done it, the degree, on time.

There were times during her second year when Hollie thought she would have to take time out but said she really didn’t want to and successfully applied for extenuating circumstances to be taken into account, giving her more flexibility with deadlines.

After graduating with a 2:1 - with a first for her dissertation, Hollie said she was “over the moon.” and said that without the support of best friend Shaun Porter, course leader Kate Bacon and tutor Lowis Chafe Hollie said she wouldn’t have got through the course.

In September she is off to visit her aunt in the antipodes and is hoping her qualification will lead to a new adventure.