A TEENAGER who passed all his GCSEs, despite having half his brain removed after a stroke, has spoken of his determination to carry on studying.

Although he is visually impaired, unable to use his left arm and able to walk only short distances, 16-year-old Guiseley School pupil Mark Shaw has been shooting pool with the European women's champion in a bid to raise some cash for a piece of specialist equipment which will offer help to young epilepsy sufferers.

And Mark, who in 1991 had the right hand side of his brain removed to control epileptic fits caused by a brain-inflaming virus, has gone into the sixth form at Guiseley School for a one-year GNVQ course in business.

Head teacher David Lowe said: "I'm delighted Mark's taken the decision to come back. It's a real testament to his grit, tenacity and determination in terms of moving forward with his life."

Mark, of Hill Crescent, Rawdon, added: "Eventually I want to work in computers. I enjoy business studies and the GNVQ was a good course, so I decided to stay on and do it at school. The course is a bit tougher than the GCSEs but I expected that and it's not going too badly."

On Saturday, Mark took time out from his studies to pit his pool skills against the European women's champion, Sarah Ellerby.

She was taking on all-comers at Leeds railway station to aid Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust's £75,000 Health Horizons Appeal to buy specialist equipment to combat epileptic fits.