Student who dropped out of school receives maximum points to study medicine

Louise Walsh

A young student who dropped out of school to battle mental health issues has received maximum points in the Leaving Certificate and the grades she needs to hopefully study medicine.

Kayleigh Quinn received six H1s in higher English, Maths, Physics, Chemistry, Biology and Home Economics and is hoping to secure a place to study medicine in the UK or in Ireland.

Ahead of the Leaving Certificate exam, she was provisionally offered places to study medicine in Brighton and Sheffield, dependent on her securing two H1 grades in Chemistry and Biology and four H2s in other subjects.

She can also take medicine in Ireland after passing the HPAT (Health Professions Admissions Test)

The 18 year old from Navan decided on the career path after chatting to junior doctors and nurses while she was in Dublin's Temple Street hospital receiving help for mental health issues and an eating disorder.

She believes that her problems stemmed from the Covid-19 lockdowns when distancing regulations made it hard to make new friends when she started post-primary school.

Those problems got worse to the point that she refused to go to school completely.

"I think it definitely started then. My year was the Covid year, so we never got a graduation from national school. It was genuinely like something out of a movie. We were ushered into first year and we were all separated in single desks," she said.

"We'd wipe down the desks after every class. I didn't see the faces of my peers for the first time until I was about 15 years old. I think that really, really affected how I settled in because I just never made friends.

"I never really came out of my shell like a lot of kids do in first year. It's like a rite of passage. You make other friend groups. You're not supposed to stick with your primary school friends."

"Anxiety kept building up in my chest and there was nothing my mam could do to get me to go to school. There were many mornings where she would try to get me kicking and screaming into the car so it wasn't sustainable, so I stopped going."

In 2023 Kayleigh was hospitalised with her mental health, which she says was the turning point in her life.

"I got so down. I couldn't see a future for myself. I had no friends. I was just in my room wishing the days to go by. I developed an eating disorder because I felt that no-one was listening to me. I felt like there had to be something physically wrong with me so that was when my mental health caused my physical health to decline."

She was hospitalised in Our Lady of Lourdes in Drogheda ahead of her Junior Certificate when a hug from a nurse made all the difference, sealed with a comment from a psychiatrist that led her back to education.

"When I was getting admitted, a nurse gave me a hug and I sobbed for hours after that. Genuinely, it was my first glimpse of hope because I didn't think I'd make it to 18. I thought maybe I shouldn't give up just yet.

"I had no passions, no hobbies. I had quit all my sports and I was a shell of a human being. Studying wasn't on my list of priorities but when a psychiatrist said they didn't want me to sit the exams, something in me snapped and I became determined to pass them."

Kayleigh's mam Tracey found a school which agreed to take her for the exams, all of which she passed but during that summer she was hospitalised again - a hospital stay that sealed her career ambition after speaking to student nurses and doctors.

After securing the maximum points in the Leaving Certificate, she said: "I'm in a state of disbelief. I think I'm still asleep actually.

"It was the result of two years of slaving away. Spite is the best motivation because so many people had no faith in me and told me my dream wasn't realistic for me.

"That's what kept me going. Even when my motivation was low, I told myself I could do it and I wanted to show others what I was capable of

"I didn't put any pressure put on me. My parents were brilliant in that way. They were actually pleading with me to go out and enjoy myself.

"Hitting rock bottom was the best thing that ever happened to me, in retrospect. And to those who are disappointed with their results, it is not the end, believe me.

"You just need to find out what matters to you. If you have the passion and the motivation, the world is your oyster."