Sick pupil Sara Macqueen fought back tears of joy as she celebrated a difficult few months with excellent grades in her GCSEs.

Sara, 16, of Market Lavington, hardly attended Lavington School in the run up to her exams due to a stomach illness but she achieved seven A* grades, three As and one B.

For six months doctors did not know what was the matter with her. They wrongly thought her illness was stress-related and she had anorexia but last month she was finally told that a virus had damaged nerves in her stomach.

Her illness meant she could not eat and she lost two stones in weight. She had completed all of her course work but she was too weak to attend school for all of her end of year exams except drama, which is a practical exam in which she and two other pupils performed a play she had written.

She said: "I was very ill when I went in to do my drama exam but we're marked as a group so I didn't want to let the others down."

Sara, who is now six stone, 11 pounds, went to see specialists in Salisbury and Bristol who carried out different tests on her.

She was finally diagnosed by a specialist at a private hospital in London.

She was off school since February and able to do some work at home but it was minimal as her illness left her with no energy and she experienced dizzy spells.

Sara, whose parents Ian and Jacky are vets at Macqueens at Hopton Industrial Estate, Devizes, said: "I wasn't able to eat, I didn't fancy food.

"I had a lot of pain and nausea and those symptoms have got worse. I had lots of tests to work out what was wrong with me and I was being sent between different doctors."

As well as not knowing what was wrong with her Sara was worried that all her coursework would be for nothing as she couldn't sit the final exams.

But the examing boards agreed to grade her based on her coursework and her mock exam results, which were very good.

She said: "It's a relief to have got a diagnosis and I'm just relieved that I have got grades at all, I didn't know if the exam boards would accept my work."

Sara, who is on medication, has been told by her doctor that she should get better in the next six to 12 months.

She is now looking forward to attending New College in Swindon to study dance, maths, English, biology and history at A and AS Level.

She said she was keeping her options open as to her future career but is thinking of becoming a contemporary dancer but also enjoys academic subjects.

Her sister, Kirsti, 18, said the whole family was proud of Sara. Kirsti said: "Sara worked so hard and is a brilliant student.

"Even though she couldn't sit her final exams her mock grades were brilliant. Sara tends to put a lot of pressure on herself and she really wanted to sit the exams but her doctor told her she was not well enough to take them."

Martin Watson, headteacher of Lavington School, said: "The exam boards have been very good and staff have put themselves out to make sure Sara got what she deserved.

"If she had been fit she would have achieved the results she has been given or better. Sara is a really bright and able girl.

"She was very determined to come in and do the drama exam. Looking at her performing, except for her being extremely thin, you wouldn't think there was anything wrong with her, but doing the performance was a struggle and really took it out of her."