PA Real LifeA hard-working mum, who had no choice but to leave school when she fell pregnant at 14, has successfully graduated university, with her six-year-old daughter by her side.
Rachael Campey’s daughter Lily-Rose proudly held her hand as she collected her counselling psychology degree at Leeds Trinity University.
The now 21-year-old, who studied alongside working to provide for her child, said having her daughter made all the sleepless nights and hours of revision worth it.
PA Real LifeRachael, from Leeds, said:
I saw Lily-Rose’s face as I put my gown and my cap on when I was getting ready for the ceremony, and it just made it all feel so worthwhile.
I just felt a lot of completion throughout the day.
I felt overwhelming love and pride from my family, and from myself, as well as my daughter.
The graduate said her daughter was ‘smiling all day long’.
‘When I was writing my dissertation, she was doing homework at the side of me, so she gets how long a process it has been’, Rachael explained. ‘They accidentally pronounced my surname wrong when I went onto the stage to collect my degree, and I heard her correct them and say “that’s my mummy”’.
Rachael said she was forced to leave school months after she discovered she was pregnant at the tender age of 14, because the school was unable to support her.
But, after working her way up to going to York College, and then onto university, Rachael has been able to go all the way to provide the best possible future for her little girl.
PA Real LifeShe said:
If I hadn’t had Lily-Rose, because I was struggling with my mental health, I don’t think I would be here now.
She changed my whole perception. I was on a very dark path before I had her, and she brightened it all up.
In fact, Rachael suffered so much at the hands of bullies that she almost dropped out of university completely.
She recalled:
I had so many moments in first year where I didn’t think I could do it, I was walking down the hall crying my eyes out going to drop out of university, thinking, ‘this is such a mess, why have I put myself in this situation?’
But the whole environment at Leeds Trinity was amazing – it was the first time I really felt supported in what I wanted to do
PA Real LifeThe mum-of-one has even bagged herself a nomination for a 2020 Yorkshire Award for her hard work and determination.
Now, she wants to encourage other single parents to not give up on their dreams, by proving it’s still possible.
Rachael said:
If you’re a young parent and you’ve suffered with mental health issues, it doesn’t mean the end of your goals. You can still work towards them whenever you’re ready.
Just because somebody says you can’t do it doesn’t mean you can’t actually do it, because you can if you really want to.
What an inspirational young woman.
If you have a story you want to tell send it to UNILAD via [email protected]
Emma Rosemurgey is an NCTJ trained Journalist who started her career by producing The Royal Rosemurgey newspaper in 2004, which kept her family up to date with the goings on of her sleepy north east village. She graduated from the University of Central Lancashire in Preston and started her career in regional newspapers before joining Tyla (formerly Pretty 52) in 2017, and progressing onto UNILAD in 2019.