I didn’t do anything wrong, but they still got rid of me.
TWELVE YEAR OLD cancer survivor Rose McGrath was dismissed from a Catholic middle school in Michigan because of her lack of attendance.
The Irish American child was diagnosed with acute lymphoblastic leukemia in August 2012 and is now currently in remission.
The McGrath family received a letter from St Joseph Middle School stating that Rose had been dismissed because she could not meet academic or attendance standards.
Her Father, Tom McGrath said told CBS News, “Rose has literally being fighting for her life for the past two and half years, just when it seems there’s a light at the end of the tunnel regarding her health issues, we receive notice from her school- the only school she’s ever known – that she has been dismissed.”
After a huge public outcry the pastor administrator John Fleckenstein invited McGrath back, saying after “much consideration and prayer…we have decided to invite seventh-grader Rose McGrath to return to our school as soon as possible.”
However, the McGraths say the school has failed their child.
The family have filed a complaint with the federal Office of Civil Rights.
Rose’s mother Barbara says Rose will continue to attend a public school for now until issues can be resolved. Barbara said Rose was pulled from the one place where she felt normal:
It’s not like she’s out at the mall having fun; she’s in her bed, sick with nausea, vomiting, abdominal pain. She’s not having fun. She’s sick. She’d be at school if she could.
Barbara told WWMT that while Rose is finished with her treatments, she still has a long way to go.
“Even though she’s now done with her treatments you still have a very long recovery process because you’ve basically just put two and a half years of poison into your body. You’re not recovering overnight.”
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