One cancer journey ended in grief when his grandmother Kun Shi died of pancreatic cancer two years ago, as Eugene neared the end of year 10.
“I was close to my grandparents so it was a big emotional trauma to me,” he says.
He sat his first VCE exam, for Chinese as a Second Language, soon after, while his family was still mourning Kun Shi’s death.
The emotional pain didn’t affect his marks – Eugene got the maximum study score of 50.
He got his final VCE results on Thursday, three hours after waking up in a bundle of nerves at 4am: three more scores of 50, in English language, mathematical methods and chemistry, and an Australian Tertiary Admission Rank of 99.95, making him one of just 37 high school graduates to achieve a perfect ATAR in 2019.
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Eugene said he was “really happy and really surprised” to see his ranking, expecting to have been marked down in English.
But the thing that makes him happiest about his rank is the fact that it is high enough to study medicine, where he hopes to launch his own journey fighting cancer and progress to a career in oncology.
“I do want to specialise in oncology in the future and the biggest factor is my personal experiences,” Eugene says.
“Because of my experiences I’ve realised how crucial the support of a doctor is,” he says. “That’s why I want to be a doctor; so I can impact people for good, help those who need the help.”
Eugene says he learned to lean on his family, classmates and teachers at Carey Baptist Grammar for support during his VCE.
“I’m blessed that I had really good peers, really good friends and great teachers,” he says.
But the ranking is not enough on its own to give Eugene automatic right of entry to the course he wants to study, which is medicine at Monash University.
He’ll need to jump a few more hurdles including an interview process before he is admitted.
The other cancer journey in his family, his grandfather’s, is not over yet, but looking hopeful some years after he was diagnosed with gastric cancer.
“My grandpa is still alive and still doing well,” Eugene says.
“He’s been through the five-year period since he got cancer so fingers crossed it all goes well.”
Adam Carey is Education Editor. He joined The Age in 2007 and has previously covered state politics, transport, general news, the arts and food.
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