Sunderland mother and son celebrate graduating together from the same nursing degree course

Seeing your son graduate as a medical professional must be one of the proudest moments for a parent, but Wearside mum Sarah Burton really did take it to the next level after joining her son Jadon, on a nursing degree course and graduating together this week.

Jadon, 23, now lives in Newcastle but grew up in South Hylton and attended Grindon Hall secondary school.

He had “always wanted to be a nurse” and applied to a number of universities, including the University of Sunderland.

However, after being offered a place on an adult nursing degree course at his first choice, Northumbria University, Jadon gratefully accepted the offer.

At the same time, after a decade of bringing up Jadon and his siblings, Sarah, 42, had started working in the care industry.

Sarah, from Sunderland, said: “I loved working as a carer and decided I would like to take it further and train as a nurse.

“I knew Jadon had applied to nursing courses at a number of universities but I decided to apply to Northumbria as I wasn’t in a position to move out of the area.

“Jadon had his interview with Northumbria in February 2020 and was offered a place. My interview was a month or so later and I also got offered a place on the same course.

“Jadon has always wanted to be a nurse. I wasn’t sure how he would feel about it and so I said I would postpone taking up my place as I didn’t want to spoil his student experience.”

However Jadon was having none of it.

Taking up the story he said: “When my mam told me she had a place on the same course I told her to go for it.

“It just felt really comfortable having her on the course. We were generally in separate classes, but the content was the same and so we started going to classes together.”

Both Jadon and Sarah credit the other with getting them through the course.

Sarah said: “We supported each other and would get together to discuss our dissertations. We kept each other going during the difficult times and were able to get through it together.”

Jadon added: “To be honest, I’m not sure I would have got through the course without my mam. She kept focused and on track.

“When things got stressful most students had their friends for support; I had my mam.”

Although at a time in life when for many students it’s the first time they move away from home and cut ties with their parents, Jadon admits having his mother in his course did come as a “bit of a shock” to his university friends.

He said: “The penny did drop a few times when my friends said they ‘couldn’t believe it was my mam’.

“I suppose it was a bit crazy.”

Sarah added: “It was quite funny seeing the reaction of some of my friends on the course when Jadon would call me ‘mam’.”

On Tuesday December 5, Jadon and Sarah enjoyed collecting their degrees together during the university’s graduation ceremony.

Sarah said: “It was a fantastic day and extra special for us to graduate together.”

Jadon added: “As a student you get two tickets for the ceremony which your parents normally use. However, because there were two of us, we got four tickets and I was able to invite my dad and grandparents.

“The thought of graduating together was at times what kept us going and it was great to be able to do it together.”

Following graduation, the mum and son have both chosen to specialise as intensive care nurses, although they are at separate hospitals with Sarah based at Cramlington and Jadon at Newcaslte RVI.

Jadon said: “We’ve still got so much more to learn in this specialist field but we know we can support each other.”