Hey guys It might have been a while since you heard from me, or heard all the gossip about me in that green lecture theatre. Well as much as I wish I was there, the pain of not being there kills every day. The next few minutes would reveal the reason for which am, sadly, not with you guys. As some of you may know, I started my first year at medical school in difficult circumstances. My dad suddenly passed away months before I started university and it wasn’t easy studying and managing a tragedy at the same time. I tried my best to pull through and, with the amazing support of the people in my year, I made it through the most difficult months and passed all the ICA’s with good marks. I worked hard to achieve these results, hours in the library and the garrod studying, researching pbls and attending every single lecture (didn’t miss a single one!) Then came the end of year exams. Six weeks of total studying. Day in day out in the library or the garrod building. 9am to 9pm everyday! It was hard but I had to make sure I revised. Some of you also started calling me the “library geek”. On results day I went to collect my results. I passed everything, the SAQ, OSCE, MCQ but sadly failed the most obvious of all, spotter. And even worse, it was only by 1%! I was gutted. Absolutely devastated at losing out by a mere 1%. This only meant one thing, a resit in September, August being the month of revision. That is where the trouble began. I don’t know how many of you know this, but I suffer from neonatal hirschprungs disease. This means a large part of my large intestine was removed days after I was born because of malfunction and this gives me adverse symptoms now. I get severe bloating and abdominal pain, diarrhoea, heart burn and cramps. Also I have to eat at regular intervals. Now these symptoms got alot worse in August, which also happened to be Ramadhan, a time where we fasted for 16 hours every day. Now these fasts made the symptoms worse and continued to do so for which I sought medical help and the investigation for this is under way by my consultant who are trying to find the best management. Now I thought to inform the medical school of what had happened, so on the 25th I emailed Dr Robson and told her about my ill health for which she asked me to submit an extenuating circumstance form which I decided to do on the day of my exam. Days before the exam (which was on the 1st) I deteriorated further. On the 28th of August I went to A&E as the pain got to a level which was unbearable. After medical attention I came home and spent the next few days ill in bed. Monday 29th of August was a bank holiday so GP surgeries were closed while on Tuesday I tried to get a GP appointment to get medical proof of my illness to attach to my extenuating circumstance, but failed to get any appointment. Sadly, on Wednesday 31st of August, the day BEFORE my exam, one of my close cousins suddenly passed away in Pakistan. This came as a massive shock to myself and the family. As you can imagine the following days were very difficult and many preparations had to be made. It was hard to get my head down and study for the exam the next day and not think about the family in Pakistan who had lost both parents, their mum and Dad, within the space of 4 months. So it was hard to revise, but still I managed to get a bit done. I came in for the exam next day knowing I have to do the exam and did it with as much dedication I could but felt distracted by what had happened the day before. When I did actually get my head around and remember about the extenuating circumstance form, I phoned the GP and tried to get hold of the medical evidence. I contacted student office to establish when I needed to send in my ECF by but there was confusion about the dates which ultimately meant that I was too late. When I went in to get the results for my spotter, I had failed at 46%. I was absolutely gutted. I had missed the date for extenuating circumstance form and here I was holding a slip which said I had failed. I was told that I am being de-registered off the course and I can appeal to the board about my result. My appeal was rejected on the basis of the lack of the ECF form. I then appealed to the vice principal but she rejected my appeal on the basis I didn’t submit enough evidence and that all the procedures were followed correctly. Now, this is where I need all of you guys help! I am now appealing to the Office of the Independent Adjudicator. This appeal would allow the board to have a look at the appeal again, and if successful, I would be allowed another chance to sit the exam. I want to give this appeal my best shot as this is my last chance. I need you guys to sign this petition for me as I believe the decision to deregister me off the course was unfair considering my academic performance throughout the year and the extenuating circumstances I faced while sitting the re-sit. I would sincerely appreciate it if you could sign this petition for me and PLEASE forward it to everyone in OUR medical school. Thank you for reading and thank you in advance for signing! Any questions please feel free to ask, Usman