After three weeks of cold-like symptoms, Joshua Bowesman-Jones collapsed with sepsis. He was admitted to hospital in March with a temperature of almost 40 degrees.

The 18-year-old, below, who has enjoyed rowing competitively for the last five years, said: “My chest pains just got worse and worse. Once in hospital I had a CT scan and was diagnosed with pneumonia.

“The infection was so deep that I had fluid on my lung. I spent nine days in hospital and was not able to do much while there, I was so tired and in a lot of pain just from breathing.

“I ended up missing around three weeks of school and a lot of revision time.

“I actually turned 18 during this and managed to celebrate by having dinner with friends while taking pain killers.”

Once out of hospital, Joshua was determined to catch up with his school work and return to his passion – rowing.

“I thought to myself, I can do this, both revision and getting my fitness back, but I soon crashed exhausted. At first I was only able to do one hour of revision per day, where I’d normally do five as I was taking five A Levels.

“I was Captain of Boats of Radley College Boat Club and was in the 1st VIII.

“We had a rowing camp coming up in Italy at the end of April. I didn’t want to miss that, even if I didn’t do much rowing it’ll still be nice to get away, and so I went but found I was still so tired that I didn’t do much.”

After attending school for a week in early May, Joshua had to stay home for more than 10 days – it was just too much for him.

Thankfully the school gave him permission to go to lessons if he felt up to it, and his homework was kept to the bare minimum.

“I very gradually built my strength up by increasing what I was doing each day.

Rower Joshua Bowesman-Jones
Rower Joshua Bowesman-Jones

“The week before summer half term, I started doing more rowing and more school work. I turned a corner over half term, but it was still fairly rubbish compared to where I am now.”

Joshua missed the National Schools Regatta at the end of May, but took part in a novice single scull race at Marlow Town Regatta in June, winning gold.

He then went on to the Reading Amateur the same day to join the 1st VIII as they were down a man due to illness, which is when he regained his place back in the VIII.

After racing at the Marlow International Regatta, the team came fourth and qualified for Henley Royal Regatta in July. The next week he was back to training, preparing for the next competition.

When it came to Henley they won their races on the Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday, but were beaten by Scotch College from Australia in the final on the Sunday.

“They were a very quick crew, but last year we were knocked out on the Friday. We were over the moon to be in the competition, so making the final was absolutely incredible.”

Joshua went on to complete a 2K time trial on a rowing machine to show he was fit enough and to qualify for Team GB.

“The final trials were tough, four days of seat racing and race after race flat out. It’s a very brutal week, but you find out who you really are and what you can do.

“You test yourself mentally as well as physically and it’s absolutely exhausting, but you have to find the strength and will power to do more.

“I only had a few weeks to properly train and was struggling with endurance. I was still getting my lung function back and started getting pain with all the physical stress I was putting on my body – it was failing me as I was still recovering.

“Doing the final trails three months after falling ill was maybe a bit much to ask my body, but I managed it and ended up with a GB vest.”

At Coupe de la Jeunesse 2017, Joshua and his crew won two gold medals in the 4+ event. Overall, Team GB won the men’s trophy, the women’s trophy and the overall trophy too.

Remember Joshua’s name, as he surely has a bright future in his chosen sport.