A teenager was celebrating today after passing all his GCSEs nine years after having half his brain removed following a stroke.

Despite being visually impaired, unable to use his left arm and only able to walk short distances, Mark Shaw goes to a mainstream school and is now looking forward to studying in the sixth form with eight GCSE passes under his belt.

The 16-year-old, of Hill Crescent, Rawdon, said: "I'm very proud of what I've achieved - I have done better than I'd been expecting.

"It's been really hard work and there have been plenty of times when I've wanted to give up.

"But I've thought 'why should I give up' and have carried on. Now I've done it and I have got these GCSEs to show for it all.''

Mark, who is taught in the same way as other pupils but has assistance with tasks such as holding a ruler, got E grade passes in technology, English and IT with Fs in English Literature, German, maths and science and a G in Religious Education.

His delighted mother, Janice, said she, Mark's father Chris, sister Paula, 19, and brother Paul, 17, were extremely proud of his success.

She said because of his disabilities Mark's grades represented as big an achievement for him as that attained by many students gaining straight As.

She said: "He's done absolutely brilliantly and deserves his success because he's a strong character who's worked very hard for it and the school have worked hard with him as well.

"Before he had his operation in 1991 we never thought he'd get this far, so we're very proud of him."

Paying tribute to Mark's achievement, Guiseley School headteacher David Lowe said: "He's shown real grit and determination, and I think there are lessons we all ought to learn from people like him.

"He's clearly a lad who's got learning difficulties so these are superb results for him - there'll be people in similar situations to Mark who won't have got anywhere near this.

"If you look at the results nationally, nowhere near everyone passes all their GCSEs, but he'll appear within our statistics as a student who gained five or more passes and we're delighted that he'll be coming back to do a GNVQ course in our sixth form.''

The teenager is now looking forward to starting the GNVQ - in business - next month.

Mark suffered a stroke at the age of four, started suffering epileptic fits a month later and was diagnosed with the rare condition Rasmussens Encephalitus two years later. It is normally caused by a virus and results in the inflammation of half the brain, triggering fits.

Just after his seventh birthday, the youngster underwent a six-hour operation which saw surgeons remove the right-hand side of his brain, the part which controls the left-hand side of the body, in a bid to stop his epileptic fits and prevent severe dementia and further paralysis. At the time it was the eighth operation of its kind to have been performed in this country.

And although he has not suffered any major fits since the op, Mark still has an average of 30 and up to 275 absence seizures a day.

The seizures last about a minute and look like daydreaming but are actually temporary lapses in awareness.