Emily's story

"There's nothing wrong with trying again."

The last few years have been a big learning curve for me. I had to re-sit my A-levels, and I’ll admit I didn’t put the effort in that I should have the first time around. All of my friends went off to uni and I went back to college. I don’t think anyone thought I would go back and re-sit my exams but I stuck to my guns and I did it and I’m really proud to have proved them wrong. I wish I had tried harder in the first place and had calmed down a bit, but in the end there’s nothing wrong with trying again if you do make mistakes.

After my exams I took a gap year and went travelling, so now I’m 21 and in my first year, but to me age doesn’t matter. I’m glad that I didn’t listen to anyone else and did what I wanted to do. I’m much more relaxed now and I don’t really enjoy drinking anymore. I much prefer having my routine of going to the gym, experimenting with new healthy foods and getting lots of sleep!

After I’ve done my degree I want to do a Masters in nutrition. I’d then like to do research into which foods cause, prevent and help cancer and strokes. I’ve always been interested in food and understanding what we are putting into our bodies, but I’ve been even more spurred on to do this since two members of family suffered with illness. I’d like to educate myself and others on ‘we are what we eat’ and find further cause and effect between food and serious illness. I really hope I can give back to my family and others by doing so.