An Arizona high school is under fire for refusing to let a student cancer-survivor walk with his graduating class after battling to keep up with coursework throughout his treatment.
Students rallied around Stephen Dwyer, the student body president of Dobson High School, who had to withdraw from his junior year in order to get a life-saving bone marrow transplant after being diagnosed with leukemia.
Dwyer, who was just 2.5 credits shy of qualifying to graduate, asked the school if he could share the celebratory moment with his classmates at the suburban Phoenix high school’s graduation ceremony.
“I never asked to receive a diploma and am even okay with not walking across that stage or having my name called. I just want to be a part of the ceremony as one of my peers would be,” Dwyer wrote in a heartfelt Facebook post, “I want to sit on the field in cap and gown, walk in the same line and throw my cap in the air as we all celebrate what we have accomplished,” the post read.
High school senior with cerebral palsy walks for the first time
Instead of sitting on the football field with his graduating classmates, Dwyer, a star swimmer on his school’s team, was forced to sit with his family in the stadium’s stands. He later donned a cap and gown to take pictures with family members after the ceremony.
Stephen Dwyer leads his class onto the field before Dobson High School’s graduation on Friday.
(KPNX)
Dwyer’s supporters attacked the school’s callous refusal to bend the rules for the leukemia survivor.
“They say it’s a matter of policy, but, I mean, they should be able to make decisions based on circumstances, and this is a perfect circumstance to allow him to be able to do that,” Jacob Martinez, a student council member, told Phoenix station KTVK-TV.
The school defended their decision, saying they can’t make exceptions to their policy, according to Mesa Public Schools spokeswoman Helen Hollands.
“Each year, the district has a number of students who due to their personal hardships have not earned the minimum number of credits required to graduate,” Hollands said in a written statement. “These students do not participate in a graduation ceremony before successfully earning a diploma.”
World’s first septuplets to survive infancy graduate
A Facebook page set up to support Dwyer’s recovery says that he went through chemotherapy, radiation and other treatments that left him exhausted between June 2014 and February 2015.
Photos of the teen boy from a year ago show Dwyer’s face ballooned up due to “awful steroids” prescribed for his treatment.
Other photos celebrate milestones, like attending school dances and other school events during his recovery.
“Students who are put in situations like mine are stranded on an island away from all the other normal teenagers,” Dwyer wrote in a Facebook post. “We are drawn away from all the great things that make high school enjoyable. We are in isolation physically and emotionally. One week we’re in the hospital. The next we are just too tired or self-conscious to go to the dance, the game or the party. We miss out on so much and have no choice but to sit at home and observe on social media. That fact that I am not allowed to walk with my class is again putting me on that island.”
With News Wire Services