Student who finished college despite heart ailment dies

TACURONG CITY  , Philippines  —  Joe-mark Mangkok, who attended his graduation on a wheelchair and with a breathing apparatus, the photos of which have gone viral, has died.

Mangkok, who suffered from rheumatic heart disease, died at the St. Louis Hospital in Tacurong City at around 7 p.m. on Tuesday.

Doctors allowed Mangkok to attend his graduation on condition that he should return to the hospital after receiving his diploma.

“Joemark just passed away,” his sister Noraisa, who works in Kuwait, told The STAR through Messenger on Wednesday.

His sister Baipulo, who works in London, said she tried to stop her brother from attending his graduation.

“He told me his diploma would be his gift to me for paying his monthly tuition,” Baipulo said also through Messenger.

Mangkok had been vocal about his gratitude to his sisters for financing his education.

He took up Bachelor of Secondary Education major in Mathematics at the Southern Mindanao Institute of Technology.

Mangkok said he wanted to teach at any public school in his hometown in Datu Paglas after his graduation.