A young carer has become the first person in her family to go to university. Jaynee Winslade-Gregory has always wanted to go to medical school and now her dream is a reality.
Jaynee, 18, from Bridgend, is a full-time carer for her grandmother, and achieved four A*s grades in Chemistry, Biology, Maths and English Literature and will take up a place to read medicine at Imperial College, London. Jaynee, whose father works night shifts and mother suffers from mental health issues, cared for her late grandmother, who has dementia and has had a stroke, before and after school and overnight helping her with showering, dressing, eating and medication.
"As an only child I have never known anything else. We had no outside support so I felt my mission in life was to care for my nana and to look after people generally," said Jaynee, "When she passed away it was as if I had lost my purpose and compounded by lockdowns during the pandemic, I felt very displaced.”
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Jaynee, who won a full scholarship to study A levels at fee-paying Cardiff Sixth Form College, became interested in being a doctor after going into hospitals with her sick grandmother from a very young age. As a child Jaynee was fascinated by the medical staff she met accompanying her nana to appointments. As she grew older she started to talk to the doctors about how they made diagnoses from symptoms they saw.
"I first went into hospital with my nana when she was diagnosed with vascular dementia, triggered by a mini stroke, when I was two years old. She was very disabled, blind and needed lots of support so hospital became almost like our second home. I found the atmosphere very inspiring and idealised the doctors. Seeing people who had such a positive manner and were doing their absolute best to help people, many of whom were extremely ill, really focused me. It was pivotal in helping me decide what I wanted to do with my life.”
She thanked her parents and teachers for supporting her dream to go to medical school as she got older and after her grandmother died: "I have been really fortunate. My teachers at Cardiff Sixth Form College and my parents have been so supportive. I decided to put my head down, start working hard to achieve the best grades I could and am now the first person in my family to go to university and the first doctor. Growing up in Wales going to university in London has been my dream.”
An active campaigner and fundraiser for dementia, Jaynee has set up donation pages for the local BRACE Alzheimer's charity. She has also volunteered, shadowed medical practitioners, helped lead Cardiff Sixth Form College’s medical society and undertaken extra medial research.
Cardiff Sixth Form College Principal, Gareth Collier said: "Jaynee has worked really hard. Having spent so much time in hospital she has seen first-hand what being a doctor entails and understands the hard working environment in which medical staff operate. She has natural empathy and will make an excellent doctor."
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