Student overcomes severe spinal injury to graduate

Archie Wills-Johnson graduated with a first-class degree despite his injury

A student who suffered a serious spinal injury has graduated with a first-class master's degree.

Archie Wills-Johnson, 22, was just a year into his biology degree at the University of Bristol when, halfway through an American football match in 2022, he felt a "big electric shock" course down his right arm, which turned out to be a herniated (damaged) disc.

Though an emergency surgery was successful in stopping the progression of the injury, he still suffers from chronic pain.

Mr Wills-Johnson said: "Life will always give you setbacks, but, by showing resilience, you can bounce back from the challenges and make the most of your situation. From rock-bottom, the only way is up."

He added: "The doctors told me that, without treatment, the excruciating electric shocks would continue and I could end up paralysed if I risked playing contact sport again.

"It was hard to hear, but I had to face the reality of it."

Growing up in Gloucestershire, Archie was the first in his family to attend university.

During his time at Bristol, Mr Wills-Johnson has achieved a number of academic successes.

His third-year project, which mapped the distribution of mammals across Zanzibar, has been written up as a research paper and is under a second round of peer review.

Professor Nick Roberts, head of the School of Biological Sciences at the University of Bristol, said: "We are extremely proud to see Archie graduate.

"He has demonstrated incredible resilience thought his degree and has helped create such a positive environment in his year group.

"He is an inspiration to others, and we wish him all the best for the future."