A-level student suffers thrombosis after hours of study

London: Like most pupils, in the weeks and months before her A-levels Sara Thompson revised hard.

But the hours of work at home and the time spent sitting in the exam hall almost killed her.

The 18 year old developed deep vein thrombosis - a blood clot in a vein - and could barely walk.

By the time she took her English literature exam her right leg was swollen and was almost eight centimetres bigger than her left.

Doctors told her that had she battled on a day longer she could have lost her leg or even died.

Sara said: "I just thought I had pulled a muscle. But over the period of a week it got worse.

"After sitting my English exam I was in so much pain. I phoned the doctor who told me to go straight to hospital. It was there that they told me I had DVT."

In the weeks before, Sara had spent most of her time revising at home in Rotherham for English literature, religious studies, leisure studies and general studies. But in the week before her English exam on June 10 she noticed a pain in her leg. Over the next few days it got progressively worse.

On the day of her exam she was in so much pain that she had to take a taxi from home to Wickersley School and Sports College.

For the next three hours she fought the pain. "It was awful," she said. "I managed to limp home but the pain was excruciating.

"My mum had a look at my leg. It was swollen so much that it was now three inches bigger than my left leg. We rang the [doctor] and he told me to go straight to accident and emergency." Doctors at Rotherham General confirmed it was DVT.

Sara spent five days in hospital. She was given drugs to thin her blood and banned from walking to reduce the pressure on her leg.