Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: On March 17th, 2019, I suffered a severe concussion which caused for me to miss both the rest of the term, as well as all of the following exams. Although at the time of suffering the concussion I had no idea of the length it would come to affect me, I quickly became aware of the possible timeline. My symptoms were only made present 5 days after the initial injury, which in hindsight may have affected my recovery even more, as in those days I had been furiously studying for the forthcoming Psychology exam. After going to Kingston General Hospital, my doctor made me aware that I was to cease all activites which were deemed to be cognitive, meaning all work, studying, exercise, were to be immidiately stopped. Since the doctor had told me that it could at the minimum take a coupkle weeks to recover, I thought it best for me to return to my hometown, Toronto, to continue my rest and be able to have weekly checkups with my family doctor. The next week, I went to see my doctor, and seeing that I was recovering slower than expected, had told me to take a further two weeks off. However, there was very minimal improvement on my situation, even though I was in total cognitive rest, barely ever leaving my room. As it neared exam time, I became rather anxious about my lack of studying (due to the cognitive rest) and began to realize the possiblity of me missing some of my exams. As my first exam arrived (Psychology 101 on April 11th) I was painfully not able to write my exam as I was still very much symptomatic from my concussion. This trend continued, all the way until the last possible day to write exams, where I was still very much concussed. Following this day, I continued to have multiple checkups with my doctor, with the last one dating to the 8th of May. following that, I had to leave for Scotland, as earlier in the year I had signed a 3 month contract to work abroad. At that point, I was at a point where the symptoms were manageable, and my doctor was finally happy with my recovery. When I left for the UK on the 18th of May, I had thought that was the end of it. However, when I arrived, I had a flare up of my symtoms, which caused me to once again be bed-ridden, now in a hostel in the UK. Around the same time as those symptoms finally went away, my contract to work in the UK kicked in (June 1st). From that time until now, I have been inundated with work, often having 12-13 hour shifts, where in which I would wake up, go to work, and sleep. As of writing this appeal, I have finally been granted a 3 day rest, allowing me to write this appeal.

Following March 17th, up until the Friday of that same week (March 22nd) I had no outstanding work to hand in, which was the only time in which the symtoms of the concussion had not fully onset. Following that day, I had to miss all of the work which had either been previously assigned or assigned at that time. Why there are only two courses that I am applying for aegrotat is that the other two did not have 60 complete work at the time of the injury, and so I have been told to write an exam in mid-september to make up for it. for the other two however, I saw that I had infact completed minimum 60. As I continue through my work abroad, it is abundantly clear that If i were to have to write 4 exams (2 from the aegrotat + 2 which I havent completed the minimum 60) I would put my academic health in great danger. However, with 2 exams, I believe that I can find a way to perform at a level similar to what I could have done had i not injured myself that day in March.

I very much appreciate the time and effort spent towards this appeal,

Many Thanks,
Arthur Arnold