June 29, 2026 - 154 views
A teenager who underwent 44 operations to treat a rare genetic condition has paid an emotional tribute to a North Wales school which he says helped him achieve his lifelong dream of studying medicine.
Thomas Pearce, 19, from Old Colwyn, has spent much of his life in and out of hospital after being born with Pfeiffer Syndrome Type 2, a rare genetic disorder affecting around one in every 100,000 children.
The incurable condition causes the bones of the skull to fuse too early in the womb, preventing the skull from growing normally and requiring repeated specialist surgery to allow the brain to develop safely.
Despite missing months of school during his education, Thomas has completed the first year of his medical degree at Cardiff University and recently returned to St David’s College in Llandudno to thank the teachers and staff who helped make it possible.
Thomas, who was bullied throughout primary school because of his appearance and frequent hospital stays, said the independent school transformed his confidence as well as supporting him academically during some of the most difficult periods of his life.
“When I was at primary school, I went through a lot of bullying because of my medical condition and my time spent in hospital,” he said.
“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.”
Thomas said the difference between the shy Year 7 pupil who first arrived at the school and the confident university student he is today is remarkable.
“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,” he said.
“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.”
His determination was reflected in outstanding exam results, achieving an A* in Biology and A grades in Physics, Chemistry and AS Maths, after previously gaining 10 A* grades and one A at GCSE.
Thomas explained that his condition has meant a lifetime of complex surgery, all carried out at Alder Hey Children’s Hospital in Liverpool.
“The simplest way to describe my medical condition is that my skull doesn’t grow as normally as it would from birth,” he said.
“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.”
He also lives with hydrocephalus and relies on a shunt to drain excess fluid from his brain.
During his GCSE year alone, Thomas missed more than three months of school after suffering repeated complications with the shunt, requiring several emergency operations.
“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,” he said.
“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.”
His final years at school also coincided with one of his biggest surgical procedures - a 14-hour operation to correct a severe underbite and improve his ability to eat.
“The start of Year 13 was difficult because in the summer I had a very big surgery to correct my massive underbite and help me eat properly,” he said.
“I wasn’t allowed to chew for two months after the surgery, so I lost 9kg in weight.
“Because I couldn’t chew, the cooking staff at the school would make specific meals for me 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.”
His experiences as a patient inspired his career choice.
“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,” he said.
Thomas’s mother, Nicki Pearce, said St David’s provided the supportive environment her son desperately needed.
“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’,” she recalled.
“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 with the school continues through Thomas’s younger brother, Ollie, 16, a talented cellist with the National Youth Orchestra of Great Britain, who has recently completed his GCSEs there.
Headmaster Andrew Russell described Thomas as an inspiration to both staff and pupils.
“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,” he said.
“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.”
Now beginning the journey towards becoming a doctor, Thomas hopes his story will encourage other young people facing adversity to believe that determination, together with the right support, can help turn even the most unlikely dreams into reality.
