Extrenuating circumstances and no referee

Hello, I was wondering if ongoing pain and physiotherapy due to breaking my knee in year 10 (required surgery to pur metal in) and needing another surgery for it in year 12 (both times I missed 3- 6 months of school) counts as extrenuating circumstances for my ucas application? I had to relearn how to walk again (i still have a slight limp haha) and was diagnosed with diabetes at the same time i broke my leg so that was also pretty difficult. I'm a resit applicant so I was wondering whether I could put it in my current reference when it's for my grades that I initially got. Also, I told my referee and she said it didn't count so I'm not sure how else I can tell the universities about this, because I was going to say nothing but my parents insisted that it counted and I had to speak up about it. But the referee has been on holiday since December. How can I mention this then? I know i dont have much time left but should I put it on my personal statement?

Hi! So I was in a similar position (diagnosed with RA and missed a lot of school), what I did was ask my referee but before that I mailed all of my choices regarding mitigating circumstances and they all sent me a form to fill and some said after submitting the application I can mail them again. So do contact your choices and see what they can do for you! Good luck x

Wow ok thank you so much! That's really great to hear, I was worried I just wouldn't be able to do anything about it. My initial grades were really bad as well and my predicteds are really high now, so I don't want my past grades to have a massive bearing over whether or not I get accepted

Omg mine too!! You’ve got this 💗

Thank you so much! I really appreciate this. (ignore this if you're already at uni haha, but) i hope your RA treatment is going well and i'm sure you'll get into your uni of choice. I'm rooting for you! 😁

Thank you!! im not uni ahha ive applied for this year!! last night i got my first offer hoping for the rest 4!! and my RA is significantly better now, and i hope you're good too 💗 all the best <33

That definitely sounds like extenuating circumstances, and I think you should absolutely mention it somewhere. Since you mentioned diabetes, you might already be looking into long-term ways to manage it. Some people explore medications like Ozempic (semaglutide) after major life changes to help with glucose control and overall health.