A Derbyshire teenager who has battled a rare form of cancer arrived at his prom in style after returning to school just five weeks before sitting his GCSEs.
William Barlow was just 14 years old when he was diagnosed with a rare form of Hodgkin Lymphoma, that has never been seen before in the UK.
This had a severe impact on preparing for his final exams. However, the inspirational teen, from Langwith, returned to Netherthorpe School, in Staveley, with just five weeks left to prepare for his final exams.
William is a huge fan of the emergency services and members of the Shirebrook Safer Neighbourhood Team were only too happy to help him arrive at his school prom in style after hearing his story and how bravely he dealt with the brutal treatment.
He arrived with a police van and car, as well as a fire engine, to make his entrance.
William, who will study A-Level History, Geography and Psychology at Netherthorpe School from September, said: “I enjoyed the escort more than the prom and I’m really grateful that the police and fire teams went out of their way to do this for me.
“I’d like to thank them all and Netherthorpe School for supporting this. It’s a memory that will last forever for me and my friends and I’m so glad they were able to join in and come with me.”
William was diagnosed with cancer after discovering a lump in his neck two years ago and the treatment came with a host of challenges with it being the only case diagnosed in the UK.
The student underwent an operation lasting more than nine hours in which the lymph nodes on the side of his neck were removed, before undergoing chemotherapy.
He was then given the all-clear, but the family was dealt another devastating blow when it was discovered that the cancer had returned through a routine MRI scan.
The now-16-year-old had to undergo another round of chemotherapy and he is now awaiting the results of his latest MRI scan. Despite going through all of this, he was determined to do his GCSEs with the rest of his year.
Mum Helen Noble said: “He didn’t really get to complete year 11 but he still wanted to take all his exams, so he went back to school and did the whole year in five weeks.
“He did all the higher papers and took all his exams. The school have been brilliant with him, they even gave him a room on his own for the exams.”
With the exams out of the way, William was looking forward to his prom at Van Dyk Hotel in Clowne and enlisted the help of Derbyshire Constabulary.
Officers headed to William’s home on the night, ‘arrested’ the teenager and placed him in the back of a police van.
He was then driven to the hotel and taken out of the back of the van in handcuffs in front of his surprised classmates.
Crews from Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service also wanted to help, so a police car, police van and a fire engine all turned up to escort William to the prom venue.
Two of his friends, Fin and Charlie, also ended up in handcuffs.
Helen said: “It was absolutely fantastic. William loved it. He just kept on smiling; he must have had cheek-ache by the end the of the night. Words just aren’t enough to say thank you.
“This kind of experience isn’t something any amount of money can buy. We are all just so blown away.
“William has such a dry sense of humour so getting ‘arrested’ was just this amazing moment for him. We could hear everyone saying ‘oh my gosh’ when he got out of the van with handcuffs on.”
Speaking of his positivity and bravery in battling cancer, she said: “His attitude to it all is that he’s just been dealt this hand and is unlucky.
“He’s been so brave and so positive throughout his treatment and everything. He will have to have MRI scans every three months, for the rest of his life but he says he’s got to do it anyway so he may as well do it with a smile on his face and make the best of his situation.”
PC Jake Stone from the Shirebrook SNT said: “I was told about William’s situation by a friend of his family who also told me that he had his prom upcoming. I met William almost straight away after hearing about him – he is inspirationally brave with a fantastic sense of humour; I couldn’t help but smile after being in his presence and wanted to repay the favour by making his prom as special as we could.
“As a local Safer Neighbourhood Team, we want to make a positive difference within our community and we couldn’t let William go to his prom without him having the most positive and special experience possible.
“The response from local police teams in North East Derbyshire was unbelievable to the point we had to scale it back as we wouldn’t have fit all our vehicles on William’s drive to pick him up.
“Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service also joined in to make William’s day extra special. He specifically asked me to ‘arrest him’ as he said it would be cool – he was therefore ‘arrested’ by my sergeant for being too cool for school.
“The smile on William’s face at his prom made all of the planning worthwhile. It’s been a pleasure to meet him and I hope he had the best night possible.”
Shane Reeves, Derbyshire Fire and Rescue Service watch manager, said: “William’s story is one of courage and determination so when Shirebrook crew were asked to escort him to prom, it was an honour to be involved in such a special occasion and help him mark the end of school.
“He is a true inspiration, and we wish him all the best for the future.”
Helen McVicar, headteacher at Netherthorpe School, said: “We are so proud of how hard all of our students have worked this academic year, but we were over the moon to welcome William back to school to sit his GCSE exams. He is a credit to himself, his family and the school.”
