Petition Letter
I am writing this letter because I am appealing to drop the course LAW 204 (Fall 2022) without a grade assigned to it on my official transcript.
Last month, I experienced some unforeseen extenuating circumstances that were beyond my control that have had a lasting impact on my academic performance. Starting the week of October 10th, 2022, I suddenly became very ill. As my symptoms progressed over the following days, I visited the hospital on October 15th, and was admitted to the hospital on two separate occasions, with the first hospitalization beginning on October 17th, and the second beginning on October 21st. At the first hospitalization, they concluded after about 36 hours of testing that I had a virus that was causing severe complications with my liver. Initially, they diagnosed me with viral-induced acute hepatitis that was caused by mononucleosis. After I was released from the hospital, my symptoms worsened further and I started developing jaundice which is not typical in someone with mono-induced hepatitis. Further blood testing indicated that my illness was likely something much worse than my original diagnosis, and I was sent back to the hospital. At the hospital, they found that my liver problems were causing complications with some of my other organs as well. They tested me for everything that could possibly be causing the issues with my organs, and nothing was checking out. After a few days in the hospital, I was allowed to return home to recover as my bloodwork was beginning to look better. I still do not have an official diagnosis on what caused the problems with my organs other than my mono diagnosis, but complications as severe as mine are not typical of mono-induced hepatitis.
While all of this was going on, I was unable to do any school work at all. I began to feel well enough to begin the return to my studies starting the week of November 1st. Although I am feeling substantially better than I was during the first stages of my sickness, my liver will take months to heal completely and I am still experiencing some symptoms of my illness. One of the long term side effects of mono is exhaustion, which is made significantly worse by hepatitis. Since I've returned to Queen's, I certainly haven't felt like myself due to the exhaustion, and I am not able to do as much as I could before I got sick. Because of this, catching up has taken me longer than anticipated, and because of the heavy workload of LAW 201, it has definitely been the biggest challenge. I missed a lot of content during my time off and a number of assessments as well, so catching up in this course in addition to staying on top of all of my other school work has felt impossible. Five courses has been a lot for me to manage during the past few weeks, so my doctor has recommended that I drop one of my courses so that I stop overexerting myself and don't disrupt my recovery.
Should this appeal be granted, my plan to make up for the lost credit is to either retake LAW 201 next year, or perhaps retake it during the Summer 2023 term if it's offered.
Thank you very much for your time.
Sincerely,
Payton Hardy
Last month, I experienced some unforeseen extenuating circumstances that were beyond my control that have had a lasting impact on my academic performance. Starting the week of October 10th, 2022, I suddenly became very ill. As my symptoms progressed over the following days, I visited the hospital on October 15th, and was admitted to the hospital on two separate occasions, with the first hospitalization beginning on October 17th, and the second beginning on October 21st. At the first hospitalization, they concluded after about 36 hours of testing that I had a virus that was causing severe complications with my liver. Initially, they diagnosed me with viral-induced acute hepatitis that was caused by mononucleosis. After I was released from the hospital, my symptoms worsened further and I started developing jaundice which is not typical in someone with mono-induced hepatitis. Further blood testing indicated that my illness was likely something much worse than my original diagnosis, and I was sent back to the hospital. At the hospital, they found that my liver problems were causing complications with some of my other organs as well. They tested me for everything that could possibly be causing the issues with my organs, and nothing was checking out. After a few days in the hospital, I was allowed to return home to recover as my bloodwork was beginning to look better. I still do not have an official diagnosis on what caused the problems with my organs other than my mono diagnosis, but complications as severe as mine are not typical of mono-induced hepatitis.
While all of this was going on, I was unable to do any school work at all. I began to feel well enough to begin the return to my studies starting the week of November 1st. Although I am feeling substantially better than I was during the first stages of my sickness, my liver will take months to heal completely and I am still experiencing some symptoms of my illness. One of the long term side effects of mono is exhaustion, which is made significantly worse by hepatitis. Since I've returned to Queen's, I certainly haven't felt like myself due to the exhaustion, and I am not able to do as much as I could before I got sick. Because of this, catching up has taken me longer than anticipated, and because of the heavy workload of LAW 201, it has definitely been the biggest challenge. I missed a lot of content during my time off and a number of assessments as well, so catching up in this course in addition to staying on top of all of my other school work has felt impossible. Five courses has been a lot for me to manage during the past few weeks, so my doctor has recommended that I drop one of my courses so that I stop overexerting myself and don't disrupt my recovery.
Should this appeal be granted, my plan to make up for the lost credit is to either retake LAW 201 next year, or perhaps retake it during the Summer 2023 term if it's offered.
Thank you very much for your time.
Sincerely,
Payton Hardy