I've Got Six Kids and a Painful Illness - but It Hasn't Stopped Me Winning an Honours Degree; They Come From All Walks of Life and Have Vastly Different Stories, but Today 634 Students From the Open University Will Be Awarded Their Degree Certificates at the Graduation Ceremony at the Royal Concert Hall. Here Vicky Davidson Meets Three Graduates Who Have Beaten the Odds to Succeed in Their Studies.

Evening Times › June 01, 2004

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Summary

JANINE RENNIE, 37 Cumbernauld, BA Honors

BEING the chief executive of a charity that offers support to drug and drink addicts and their families is a challenging job.

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Extract

I've Got Six Kids and a Painful Illness - but It Hasn't Stopped Me Winning an Honours Degree; They Come From All Walks of Life and Have Vastly Different Stories, but Today 634 Students From the Open University Will Be Awarded Their Degree Certificates at the Graduation Ceremony at the Royal Concert Hall. Here Vicky Davidson Meets Three Graduates Who Have Beaten the Odds to Succeed in Their Studies.

Janine Rennie, though, has gone one better than that over the past five years.

Not only has she run the family home and helped to raise six children but she has also had to cope with a debilitating and painful illness, Lupus, an autoimmune disease in which the body attacks its own blood cells and organs.

At one point...

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