FORMER Court Fields School, Wellington, student Ben Chandler has graduated from Plymouth University as a Bachelor of Medicine and Bachelor of Surgery with distinction.

Ben, 28, is working as a junior doctor at Truro Hospital in Cornwall for the next two years before deciding on his career path.

He was born with cystic fibrosis, a genetic condition which causes the body to produce a thick mucus which has a wide range of effects, including on the lungs and digestive system.

The condition meant he missed a lot of lessons at school through illness and that he has to undergo an onerous regime of daily medication. Ben’s father Paul Chandler, who lives at Swains Lane in Wellington, said: “The NHS has looked after him every day and his medical career is his way of paying it back.”

Ben was born in Shrewsbury in Shropshire and moved with the family to Bristol and then to Wellington for the cleaner air at the age of five.

He attended Wellesley Park Primary School in Wellington and after Court Fields went on to Richard Huish College in Taunton.

Ben loves surfing and can indulge his passion living in Cornwall.