A teenager, who missed nine months of school after suffering a debilitating brain haemorrhage, was celebrating after getting straight As in her AS-levels.

Gabrielle Farrar wasn't able to sit her GCSEs last year after being struck down with a bleed to the brain in December 2009.

The 17-year-old, who skipped GCSEs and went straight to AS-level at Wymondham High School last September after making a full recovery, said she was 'surprised' to get A grades in English Literature, Maths, Chemistry and Biology.

She is now looking forward to her A-levels next year and hopes to study medicine in the future.

The student, who lives in Cringleford, said: 'My headteacher had to open my results for me because I was so scared and I could not believe it. I thought they had made a mistake!'

Gabrielle said she did not think anything of it when she started to feel tired and lost her coordination two years ago, but a hospital scan revealed that was suffering from a brain haemorrhage.

She was admitted to Addenbrooke's Hospital in Cambridge and underwent months of tests, observation and rehabilitation after surgeons were unable to operate because the bleed was too deep inside her brain.

'Fatigue was a big problem and I was forgetting words and I could not remember things. I started feeling better last summer and started reading up on some of the courses. The school has been wonderful and have been really good with anything I needed,' she said.

Gabrielle added that she was planning to celebrate her straight As with her friends with a take-away meal.