School decides whether cancer survivor can walk at graduation
MESA, Ariz. -- A suburban Phoenix high school didn't allow a student who was diagnosed with cancer but worked to keep up with classes through treatment to walk with his graduating class.
Stephen Dwyer withdrew from school his junior year to receive a life-saving bone marrow transplant for leukemia. He is 2 1/2 credits short of graduating and will finish in December.
He led seniors at Dobson High School in Mesa onto the field for commencement Thursday but then sat in the stands. In a Facebook post, Dwyer said he wanted to sit on the field in a cap and gown alongside his classmates.
Mesa Public Schools says a number of students each year don't meet the required number of credits because of personal hardships and they don't participate in graduation.
Jeannie Moore, whose son swam with Dwyer, got choked up while discussing the district's decision with CBS Phoenix affiliate KPHO-TV.
"He doesn't want to once again miss out and be singled out because of this cancer that he had; he wants to be normal," she told the station. "It could have been such a non-issue if they would have just let the boy wear his cap and gown."