They cared for their disabled sister and their paralysed mother while studying – now Abigail and Emily Bates are aiming for medical careers after being inspired by their family.
It’s been an incredibly tough 18 months for Long Sutton mum Charlotte Bates who left doctors baffled as to why she lost all functions below the chest.
Her daughter Alice (12) also needs round the clock care after a brain haemorrhage at birth led to her developing quadriplegic cerebral palsy and epilepsy.
With husband Andy at work and eldest son John at university, Abigail (18) and Emily (16) stepped up while studying for their A Levels and GCSEs respectively.
After being inspired as an 11-year-old talking to doctors about Alice, Abigail in September is set to study to be a surgeon at Imperial College in London after gaining an A* in Maths and A grades in Further Maths, Chemistry and Biology at Spalding Grammar School.
Emily is due to collect her GCSE results today (Thursday) and despite her caring duties, is predicted to get at least Grade Six (the equivalent of old B grades) or above accross the board from Spalding High School.
She would like to go into psychology or psychiatry after seeing her mother’s struggles after being diagnosed T6 paraplegic and wheelchair bound.
Both have worked alongside other siblings Hannah (14) and Henry (11) to make life as easy as possible for Charlotte and Alice who regularly needs her two tubes removed and cleaned to keep healthy.
“I’m incredibly proud of them,” said Charlotte. “They’ve done brilliantly.
“Sometimes both Abigail and Emily were up until 1am doing homework because they’d had to help Alice first.
“I was terrified that due to my condition I was messing everything up for them.
“I thought I was ruining everything for them but they’ve not only kept going but kept everyone else going.
“They’ve found moments between the jobs to be teenage girls and live their lives and that’s inspired me.
“Since my eldest son John went to university they’ve been making sure everyone does their jobs including Henry (11) who is very good with a vacuum cleaner now.
“It was Abigail who was taking Alice with her dad to hospital appointment and signing consent forms.”
Abigail said she was “delighted” with her results and may look to specialise in children’s care eventually.
She first became interested in medicine aged 11 when Alice was having a gastric tube fitted.
“Abigail was asking the doctor question after question, and big questions for an 11-year-old,” Charlotte continued.
“The doctor, who’s carried out numerous operations on Alice since, got a model out to show Abigail in detail about the operation, and it’s something she’s wanted to do ever since.”
The family were still waiting for Emliy’s GCSE results as The Voice went to press, but she’s set to study A Levels and look towards psychology or psychiatry as a career path.
“That’s something that’s been prevalent in the family in the last few months,” Charlotte said. “Emily’s very good at calming Alice down if she’s upset and if I’m getting frustrated with my condition she’s on hand to remind me to breathe.
“She’s particularly good at reading people.
“With psychology she’s already helped me get my self-esteem back after losing the function of my lower body and Abigail even persuaded me to sign up for the gym this week.
“This family wouldn’t work without the children being the way they are.
“They all do as much as they can.
“They’re fun to be around and have so much positive energy that they’re an inspiration.
“You’ll see them doing chores and then suddenly break out into spontaneous dancing.
“Alice knows she’s loved. With moving her around they make it look easy and graceful when actually it’s very difficult.
“They make sure she’s never left out, even if it’s taken her on an obstacle course with Alice piggybacking on them like they were doing the other week. If one of them can’t do something together they work together to make it happen.”
