Broken leg not allowed to spoil graduate's big day

massey-university

Thu Apr 23 2009 12:00:00 GMT+1200 (New Zealand Standard Time)

Broken leg not allowed to spoil graduate's big day

Thursday, 23 April 2009, 2:52 pm
Press Release: Massey University

Thursday, April 23, 2009

Toni Cookson's graduation day did not turn out quite the way she expected. She had the dress, the gown, the mortarboard and was all set to parade through the streets of Takapuna with fellow College of Business graduates and cross the stage at the Bruce Mason Theatre to be capped as a Bachelor of Accountancy.

But after breaking her leg in a social netball game last night, the first thing she had to find this morning was a wheelchair.

"There was no way I was going to miss this," Ms Cookson, 22, from Milford, said at the ceremony. "If I had to, I would have done it on crutches."

She broke three bones in her left leg in three different places at the Onewa Domain courts. "I went for a tip and fell and then I heard cracking noises."

She will have the leg in a caste for at least two weeks, but won't let that stop her "hobbling round campus". She is in her fourth year at Massey Albany, doing liberal papers in addition to the accountancy degree she completed last year, so she can become a chartered accountant.

Younger brother Terry Cookson, 16, in year-12 at Rosmini College, thought he would among the families cheering on their loved ones; instead he found himself pushing his sister at the front of the parade, and then across the stage.

Ms Cookson was one of 1062 graduates from the Albany campus this week.

ENDS

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