Submit an Academic Petition or Appeal

Petition Letter: Dear Associate Dean,
My name is Usman Baig, I am a second year Applied Economics & Mathematics student. I am writing this letter to make an appeal in order to drop a course (Math 232) past the academic deadline. I have a specific reason why I would like to drop this course and would like to describe the health challenge I have had to deal with throughout this academic term.
Since the conclusion of January, I have been quite ill, sustaining a fever from the start of January up until reading week. At first I thought my sickness was just a common fever but for the last month and a half, I have had a nagging cough, trouble breathing and tight airways, which have affected my day-to-day activities. Although it seems far-fetched to believe the nagging cough would have anything to affect my academic performance, it definitely has because I spend more time sleeping, barely eating anything and have trouble focusing. In the second week of February I wrote my midterm for Math 232 without studying (I had three other midterms that week and a paper due) while also dealing with my fever. I believe this severely affected my performance and ability to focus on my academics. The weeks following my midterm and leading up to last week, I had noticed that my nagging cough just would not go away and in fact gotten worse. This had definitively affected my performance because for weeks on end, I was unable to focus on my work, slept the majority of my days in order to hopefully recover and took on various forms of over the counter medicine- Benadryl, Tylenol etc. Just this past week, I finally succumbed to pressure from my housemates and went to the Queen¿¿s health clinic and doctor Suzanne Billing. She indicated to me that I might be developing asthma as my cough had not been going away and was in fact getting much worse. For me, this is completely shocking since I have never had any issues with allergies, lung problems or anything of the matter. Currently, I have been prescribed a temporary inhaler in order to cure my cough and prevent bronchial asthma, although I feel it seems unlikely at this point. This past month or so has been difficult but nonetheless I have persevered as much as I can even though I am clearly struggling in understanding the material for Math 232. This last week has even been harder since I realized I did not pass my midterm and I still have another midterm/exam to write worth 75 of the course. So far, it has been a complete shock to me that I may be developing asthma at the age of 20 years old, and I am very unsure of how to approach things. I have not slept well this past week, have given up eating dinner for the last four days or so and am still in a bit of a shock over how this could happen to me. I feel the reason why I want to drop Math 232 is because besides the fact that I am already struggling with the material, I am losing confidence in my ability in preparing for my midterm and final exam. Both of the weightings for the last midterm and final tally over 75. It¿¿s just that I need some time to reflect of what is happening to my health, explain to my parents what the situation is and gradually start easing my workload (I already take 6 courses). My mental confidence is at an all-time low and I am starting to get thoughts creeping into my head that perhaps my health condition may be more serious than asthma (I have another appointment in 3 weeks).
Therefore, I write you this letter to ask for permission to drop Math 232. Although I have not officially diagnosed with asthma, I am still taking medication to prevent bronchial asthma but I will attach the documentation for my prescriptions, which I hope you can take into consideration. I realize this is not an easy task to allow a student to drop a course past the academic deadline without a penalty but I sincerely hope you can take my struggles into consideration and understand that mentally my confidence in my health and my abilities is at a low point and I would appreciate any help. Thank you for taking the time to read this letter.
Kind Regards,
Usman Baig