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A single mother desperate to fulfil her dream of becoming a paramedic is crowdfunding to pay for her final year fees.
Lydia Bastick, 28, from Broadstairs in Thanet already has a degree in Biomedical Science for which she took out a student finance loan and therefore cannot access any more.
She is now two years into her Paramedic Science degree at Canterbury Christ Church University which she has so far funded via an £18,000 personal loan, repaying £450 a month in addition to raising her two children, aged 11 and seven.
She claims she accepted her place in 2018 after she was reassured by the Student Loans Company that the course was an 'exception degree' meaning she would not have to pay fees.
But it transpires the course is one of the only within the healthcare sector where funding is not given.
Having had her loan extension application rejected and considered payday loans to get her to the finish line, she has set up a Go Fund Me page to raise the sum.
She says she has been overwhelmed by people's kindness, receiving almost £2,000 from family, friends and strangers in three days.
She said: "I hadn't realised when I applied for the degree that I would not qualify for funding for the course fees.
"I like to help people, not ask for help myself - and I worry about what people think.
"I understand that people only get one set of student finance. It makes sense. But it's just frustrating that it's one of the only healthcare courses not to."
Ms Bastick says she has wanted to become a paramedic for many years.
She enrolled on her first degree because the hours were more manageable around her young son, who was only one-and-a-half at the time.
Alternatively to signing up to a second undergraduate course she says she could have joined the NHS as an Emergency Care Support Worker and climbed the ladder.
However this would have taken several more years.
She said: "I wish I has taken this route now, knowing of all of these complications."
In her two years of training, she has already completed a number of placements helping people involved in car crashes, those who have suffered heart attacks and the elderly.
She said: "I really enjoy it. No two days are the same."
'I like to help people not ask for help myself and I worry about what people think.'
Friend Scarlett Dobson is urging people to help her pal.
She said: "Now more than ever government bodies should be supporting the development and sustainability of the NHS.
"Lydia is a real hero, and an inspirational mother to pursue this career along side raising two young children."
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