Student interview proofed.qxp_Layout 1 26/08/2021 16:33 Page 1
NEXT GENERATION
Designs on life
In time for Childhood Cancer Awareness Month, we chat with Dimitris Arnaoutis – born with a rare form of blood cancer and a slim chance of survival and now a happy, healthy UWE architecture student
A
fter her baby was diagnosed with hemophagocytic lymphohistiocytosis, NHS Property Services IT project manager Julie Arnaoutis felt the world had fallen from underneath her. Baby Dimitris needed a bone marrow transplant or he wouldn’t make it, doctors told her, and his chances of surviving the transplant operation were five per cent. The transplant unit was located at Bristol Children’s Hospital, 80 miles away from the family home in Bournemouth. On top of their crushing news, the family had to consider logistical questions: how were they going to get to Bristol? How were they going to survive? That’s when Julie met a social worker at children’s charity Young Lives vs Cancer who told her about Sam’s House in Bristol, one of 10 ‘homes from home’ providing a free place for families to stay when their child is going through cancer treatment. They’re close to treatment centres, helping families avoid the extra financial burden of travel, accommodation and food costs. “When I heard about the home from home, I cried,” says Julie, “It’s relief, it’s pure relief. There’s somebody who’s stepped forward like your knight in shining armour. They are there to take a chunk of pain away from you and allow you to concentrate on the critical thing, which is your child.” The transplant was a success and although it was touch and go for a while, Dimitris defied the odds and slowly recovered from the blood cancer. Now he’s back in Bristol but this time it’s not for an operation – he’s in his first year of studying architecture and Julie couldn’t be prouder. She and her NHS Property Services colleagues have pledged to raise £150,000 for Young Lives vs. Cancer by 2024 – through runs, hikes, bake sales and a rowing relay challenge inspired by the Olympics which will equal the length of the channel cross from Dover to France – which could help 800 young people during their cancer fight. Here Dimitris tells us all about himself – what a stand-up lad he has grown up to be.
I really look up to the architect Richard Norman Shaw. I want to specialise in housing architecture, which he was known for, and have always been drawn to the Tudor style he does so well. He designed incredible buildings, many of which you can still visit today – such as New Scotland Yard in Westminster – but he’s famous for both his commercial architecture and his unique design of country houses. I admire his perfectionism and innovation and would love to someday pay homage to his world-famous style in my own housing designs. Clifton Suspension Bridge is, by far, my favourite Bristol building. Not only is it rightfully the most Instagrammable place in Bristol, but I feel it shows the human development of architecture in the recent period. While it really stands out and is a showstopper, it goes so well with the buildings around it and that’s a really impressive balance to achieve in architecture. I like Cabot Circus because I like to see all the different people in Bristol coincide, and think about how all these people are here for different reasons but are together in this moment. I love the multi-coloured houses around Clifton that brighten up the landscape. They always put me in a good mood and I’ll often go out of my way to walk past them.
74 THE BRISTOL MAGAZINE
|
SEPTEMBER 2021
|
NO¯ 202
Image by Ben Braybrooke Photography
Initially I didn’t get into UWE because of the impact Covid had on exam results. I was devastated as I had my heart set on Bristol. After discussions with the board around my medical background and the gaps in my education due to health, the decision was reviewed and I successfully got my place. I was thrilled, given the initial difficulty.
Dimitris is now 19 and studying at UWE
Dimitris as a baby with his dad Stelios
