A RICHARD Huish student has landed a place at a top university after battling with a brain tumour the size of an orange.

Jack Musgrave, 20, was knocked out during a rugby match on the college field just two months into his first year.

Numerous fainting incidents and sickness followed in the months after and Jack, a student at Richard Huish, was diagnosed with serious concussion.

After a further fainting and sickness incident, Huish rugby coach Chris Heal told him to demand an MRI scan as there was clearly something else wrong.

The scan revealed a tumour the size of an orange and a large cyst at the back of his skull close to the brain stem.

He underwent open brain surgery at Frenchay Hospital, Bristol, within weeks of the scan.

Jack, from Middlezoy, near Taunton, said: “It was a serious operation. They opened up the back of my head and I have a six-inch scar.”

Jack made a speedy recovery and was home within four days.

But the ordeal wasn’t over. Jack contracted chemical meningitis after the surgery and underwent a lumbar puncture at Musgrove Park Hospital, Taunton.

Jack was in and out of hospital throughout his first year at college and was advised to take some time out to recover.

When Jack returned for his second year of A-levels he suffered Keratoconus in his eyes, a condition that changes the shape of the eye due to the pressure from his brain tumour and had both eyes operated on.

Jack added: “At that point I was failing college, I couldn’t focus and I was finding the work really difficult.

“My teachers have been fantastic, sending me notes when I’ve missed college because of hospital appointments and they have been very understanding.

“The doctors tell me that it probably started forming when I was in Year 6. I have got the all clear now and there are no signs of it coming back.”

Jack has been offered a place at Birmingham University to do sports physical education and coaching science.

He said: “Three years ago I wouldn’t have dreamed of it, last year I still wouldn’t have believed it. Now Richard Huish College has got me to a Russell Group University.”

Jack hopes to work in sports nutrition or sports analysis in rugby or swimming.

Principal John Abbott said: “It has been a true inspiration to see how Jack has dealt with his health challenges and how he has not allowed this to dent his academic progress.”