Petition Letter
The reasoning behind my request to appeal the 21 day deadline is an extension of my reasoning behind why my studies were so hindered throughout the 2014/2015 school year. For nearly the entire duration of the school year, I have been battling a deep persistent issues with depression and anxiety. Depression is something I have been fighting for roughly six to seven years, but only as of this past year has it affected all areas of my life to such a massive degree. The feelings of misery, worthlessness, helplessness, and fear, were all relentless throughout the duration of the school year, and on the majority of the days I was literally bedridden. While they did come in waves of severity, they never dwindled completely, and even now this is the case. Regardless, I spent the entire year in and out of doctor's offices and weaning myself on (and off) of medications. My academic session was more or less a disgrace and an embarrassment. It wasn't until about the end of the Winter semester that I went on a specific antidepressant (Pristiq) that would end up having a positive affect on me. As is the mechanism of these medications where they can take up to 6-8 weeks to take full effect, this was the case with me. While me and my doctor continue to experiment with dosages, I am now functioning quite a bit better and am having more ease taking on responsibilities. For the first time since the beginning of the school year, I can say that I am no longer feeling completely incapacitated nor am I feeling suicidally depressed. If this were almost any time earlier in the year, I would not have been able to take the time out of my day to draft out this appeal letter. My request to waive the appeal deadline is in regards to two courses that I failed in the Winter session, and though I don't want to try my luck, the circumstances are the same for one course in the Fall session (Film 355) so I would like to try to waive the deadline for that one as well. I am absolutely confident that my file with Queen's Health Services will corroborate my background.