Hi newbie mum (sort of )

[PamT]

Hi my son was diagnosed with T1 after his 1st year of university and failing part of his course due to illness and fatigue. He was accepted back to resit the failed parts of first year (lab work not written so couldn't catch up in halls in his own time when feeling OK) on a short break at home he had a fall and was diagnosed in hospital out of the blue very shocked no family history etc. Long story sorry, covid hit and quite frankly has had little to NO help since his diagnosis Nov 2019 he lost the will to do anything eat, sleep, live,communicate,get help etc he lost nearly 5 stone became a reclusive argumentative confused skeletal hermit. Last month out of the blue he has been signed onto the Daphne course and OMG a light has been switched on finally getting some help and advice and talking to us and in the last 3 weeks has put on a little weight and had a libra on his arm. Finally getting our son back and he has been told he could get help from the disability department of the University he is determined to go back and prove the were wrong to finish him and although they won't let him complete the course he is now looking at restarting again.
To cut this shorter ha ha was wondering if anyone had been in the same situation and could offer any advice thanks Pam

 

[Leadinglights]

Hi Pam, welcome to the forum, there are a few parents on here with children/young adults who have had varying experiences of care and support from the NHS so I'm sure they will be along to give you some words of wisdom.
As far as your son's Uni course, unfortunately the Uni is constrained by regulations but do try to be supportive of students with disabilities. But courses involving lab work often change in structure or become discontinued so students cannot repeat a course which no longer runs. Sometimes it is better for the student to put a less than good experience because of being unwell behind them and start from a fresh. I would urge that whatever he decides to study it is a course in a subject he enjoys but do tap into the support from the disabilities team at the Uni.

 

[Drummer]

Restarting the course might well give your son a great advantage which will result in him gaining far more from the degree course as a whole than trying to restart it after being unwell.
I met a tutor when doing the Open University who had done something similar - but when he restarted the course he was helping failing students catch up, and that helped him to understand far more about the subject, so he was achieving top grades as well - in the end he never left the university and became a tweedy academic but he seemed happy with his fate.

 

[Leadinglights]

Restarting the course might well give your son a great advantage which will result in him gaining far more from the degree course as a whole than trying to restart it after being unwell.
I met a tutor when doing the Open University who had done something similar - but when he restarted the course he was helping failing students catch up, and that helped him to understand far more about the subject, so he was achieving top grades as well - in the end he never left the university and became a tweedy academic but he seemed happy with his fate.

Another O.U. student, I was an H so a long time ago.

 

[cameron]

Welcome to the forum @PamT. 🙂

Sorry to hear what your son's been going through, but it's good news he's feeling better in any case. Well done to him!

It sounds positive he wants to return to university. Have you tried contacting the Diabetes UK helpline for support? An advisor might be able to give you and your son some extra advice.

How long ago was it that your son had to leave university? Your son could try getting in touch with his university's student union too, because I believe students should be able to take a leave of absence due to ill health. I'm sure there would be a student advice and welfare team within the union that could help.

 

[Thebearcametoo]

Gosh what a horrible time of it you’ve all had. Unfortunately adult support seems to be very hit and miss in comparison to paediatric care where we get our hands held a lot. I’m so glad he now can see some light and is feeling better. If he can have good management of his diabetes then it won’t stop him doing anything his peers can do.

Repeating a year may feel like a failure but he will have a big advantage by having done the first year previously and just having a bit more maturity. Plus doing it because you’re really committed means you put more work into it that if it’s just the thing you do after A levels.

I hope he had a great time and feels positive going back.

 

[Drummer]

Another O.U. student, I was an H so a long time ago.

I was an F in fact F0297452 - amazing - can't remember what I did last week but I am pretty sure that was my designation. Mind you I did 'Understanding space and time' and I don't think that one worked at all.

 

[Leadinglights]

I was an F in fact F0297452 - amazing - can't remember what I did last week but I am pretty sure that was my designation. Mind you I did 'Understanding space and time' and I don't think that one worked at all.

I did science and maths foundation, genetics, statistics. public health, biochemistry, I can't now quite remember what else. I then went on to do Microbiology at Univ of Kent. It seems like 3 lifetimes ago now.