Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: On January 1st, 2016 I was hit by a CP train. I was incredibly lucky to survive. I suffered a traumatic brain injury and many other internal injuries. I spent two months in Intensive Care and two months in a Rehabilitation Hospital. My life has not been the same since that day.

Adjusting to University when I started at Queen¿¿s in the Fall of 2017 was much harder than I expected it would be. I was not able to manage getting used to living away from home and managing my coursework while staying on top of my physical and mental health in the way I thought I should. But I thought it was up to me to figure it all out, so I didn¿¿t tell anyone how much trouble I was having, and I didn¿¿t ask for help. I finished first year on academic probation.

Things became even more difficult when I had a grand mal seizure in June of 2018. I suffered a concussion, facial injuries and dental damage requiring major orthodontic work. I was diagnosed with epilepsy (a direct result of being struck by the train). I started taking Keppra, a drug whose known side effects include drowsiness and low energy.

I spent the summer trying to recover and get ready to return to Queens for second year, but I worried about how I would do it. My plan was to sit down with an academic advisor when I got there, to make an academic plan that would work for me.

Within the first week of getting back to Queens for second year, I had a second grand mal seizure. I was picked by an ambulance and rushed to Kingston General Hospital. The following day by sister Jordan (Class of Queens 2018) picked me up and brought me back to Toronto to recuperate and made plans to see both my Neurologist and Orthodontist for my broken teeth. The ensuing weeks were spent visiting Sunnybrook Hospital and my neurologist as well as resting and recovering at home. Dr. Lam increased my dosage of Keppra and stressed the importance of constantly being aware of my physical and mental health.

This incident and its aftermath caused me to miss insert number weeks of school. By the time I was both physically and mentally prepared to return to Queens University, I was not able to play catch up after missing so much of the Fall semester. It was at this time that I should have notified Queen¿¿s about my desperate situation. Things just sort of snowballed from there and it was a constant struggle, one I could not at that time overcome. It was easy to lose track of my academic standing with everything that I had experienced in the prior weeks. It wasn¿¿t the cuts on my body or face that were difficult to manage, it was the effects of the increased dosage of Keppra as well as the unease of a potential third seizure.

All of this made it impossible for me to keep up with my academic obligations but again, I felt it was up to me to carry on and I told no-one and didn¿¿t ask for help.

I felt paralyzed and ashamed. I didn¿¿t want to disappoint my parents or other people who care about me, so I kept it all from them. I basically stuck my head in the sand. I even returned to Kingston under the pretext of entering third year, because I was unable to face the reality of my situation.

I have included in my appeal package a letter from Dr. Benjamin Lam, my treating neurologist. By reading his letter and through work with a therapist that I started seeing in mid October and am still working with, I now understand that my problems with keeping up with my coursework and my inability to deal with them effectively were directly related to my brain injury and seizure disorder. It¿¿s hard for me to accept that I am not to blame, my disability is. Now that I understand that, I am determined to make changes to help me return to Queen¿¿s and succeed. My academic plan is also attached.

As of today, I have been seizure free for almost fourteen months and I am feeling more confident everyday that with the right academic plan in place, I am very capable to resume my enrollment at Queens. I have almost completed my transition onto new epilepsy medication, (Lamotrigine) and I will be tapering off of Keppra in the upcoming weeks. The new medication doesn¿¿t come with the same negative side effects which will be a life changer for me as Keppra would keep me in a cycle of fatigue and exhaustion.

Now that you know the whole story, I hope that you will understand the need for compassionate understanding and accommodation of my disability and grant my appeal. I would be happy to meet with you to discuss any aspect of my request.

Sincerely,
Niall McConnell