Last year was a challenging year for Rylands High matriculant Aqeel Hope.
After spending most of his youth volunteering and running the CANSA Relay, the slimkop matric learner had no idea he would soon be faced with the dreaded illness himself.
Despite his fight with cancer, he passed his matric with exemption.
The 18-year-old was diagnosed with Lymphatic Cancer midway through Grade 11.
Aqeel says his worst fear came true on 13 April 2018 when he was diagnosed with the illness.
“I was in the mosque for Jumu’ah and felt this lump in my neck, it was extraordinarily big and it had me worried,” he says.
“It was Hodgkin’s lymphoma, which is cancer in your lymph nodes in your skin.
“It was shocking because there were family members in the past that passed away because of cancer so it kinda hit my parents extremely hard.”
“I spent most of the last year studying while being on treatment, which was really hard.
“I was told in the beginning that the treatment would spike my emotions, so it was hard to keep my mind in a state of focus.
“With the help of fellow classmates and a special system put in place for his final year, Aqeel managed to pass his Grade 12 year despite low class attendance.
“I would like to say thank you for everything and I have successfully passed Grade 12 with a Bachelor’s which surely proves that hard work does pay off.
“A year might have passed with no education, but pushing and continuous work will pay off at the end of the day.”