Cancer-stricken Malaysian Student Conferred a Degree by His Uni to Honour His Determination

Phu with his parents at the graduation ceremony

A cancer-stricken student in Malaysia achieved his dream of graduating university, thanks to the special degree conferred to him. 23-year-old Phu Joon Meng was conferred a Bachelor's degree in quantity surveying under special provisions by the University College of Technology Sarawak (UCTS), also known as an aegrotat degree.

An aegrotat degree is awarded to a candidate who is unable to sit for exams due to severe illness. UCTS stated that, despite his illness Phu is a very determined and hardworking student who was so committed towards his studies.

Phu first joined the degree programme in 2017, and actively participated in various extracurricular activities. Phu was also a black belt instructor and was the president of the university's Taekwondo club.

It was during his Taekwondo practice that symptoms of the cancer first started showing. Phu initially felt dizzy and weak after training, but chalked it up to overexertion. However, one day he felt extremely dizzy and started vomiting even when he was not exercising and was subsequently sent to the hospital.

In May 2019, he was diagnosed with a brain tumour when he was in his final semester. "When I received the news from the doctor that something was growing inside my brain, I felt as if my whole world had collapsed," Phu said. Phu had a surgery in June 2019 and after eight months, he resumed his studies in February 2020.

Despite having to visit the hospital regularly for treatment, Phu would still make the effort to attend online lectures during his commute back and forth. Unfortunately, doctors recently diagnosed that the cancer cells had spread to his other parts of the body and advised him to stop treatment and live out the rest of his days to the fullest.

Phu thought his dream to finish his studies on time like others will never come true. Nevertheless, he conferred a special degree and expressed his appreciation and gratitude to the university for specially organizing the graduation ceremony and for conferring the aegrotat degree to him.

The young man highlighted support from family and friends as the reason to keep him fighting. He said that all he wants to do now is spend the rest of his life with his family, adding that he wanted "to create more memories with my parents and brothers before leaving the world."