Teen cancer survivor banned from prom for missing school
A brave teenager who overcame cancer said she was banned from attending her high school prom because she had missed too much school.
Alex Dallas, 16, has battled cancer since she was just four-years-old, so after a 12-hour operation to remove a deadly tumour, she was ecstatic at fulfilling a life long dream and right of passage.
After spending more than $650 on a custom prom dress and further hundreds on her hair and makeup, the year 11 student was told she wouldn’t be joining her fellow pupils for that much awaited event.
“I was so upset that I couldn’t go,” said Alex. “The prom’s the thing you look forward to from when you’re 11. It makes all the stress of exams worth it.”
While Ormiston Bolingbroke Academy in Runcorn said they made the decision with Alex’s health and safety in mind, her furious mother, Sam Mattison, said that is a cop out.
“My daughter’s been through hell and she wanted to finish school on a high with all her friends, most of whom she’s known since nursery,” Ms Mattison told The Mirror.
“She’s 4ft 5 and four stone, she’s not a threat. She wanted to be treated like every other child and she’s been denied her big night.
“The school have severely let her down. They say it’s a safeguarding issue and asked ‘what if she locks herself in a toilet?’
“She needed this, she’s just had her head sliced open in a massive operation. She was desperate to have everything sorted by her prom date.
A school spokesperson said they wanted to make sure attending the event was in Alex’s best interest.
“Because she had not been into school for six months, we asked her to come in for one hour a day over a two-week period before the prom, so we could make an assessment and so she could interact with other students.
“Unfortunately she did not do so and so we reluctantly took the decision that it would not be right for her to attend the event.”
