The University of Nevada's college of education worked to create a very special ceremony for one student, whose father may not live long enough to see her graduate in May.
Kendra Warthan's father was diagnosed with stage four lung cancer in August and was recently put into hospice care. Warthan says she knew the prognosis was serious because her grandfather was diagnosed with the same thing in February and he died in November.
“My dad's was more aggressive, so we did what we needed to do, I tried to go to the December graduation but he was really sick that day, so that didn't work out,” says Warthan.
Kendra reached out to a friend and mentor, Jenna Dewar. Dewar said it would be too heartbreaking for Kendra if her father was not able to hang on long enough to make it to the spring 2017 graduation commencement.
“I don't think any of us want to go through a milestone in life without those important people, so if putting this on meant that we could have that guarantee of him here, we would do it a million times over," says Dewar.
On Tuesday, Kendra was able to take part in a special college graduation ceremony made just for her, allowing her father to witness this milestone in his daughter's life.
"To have him here for my graduation is amazing; I'm the youngest of seven and the first one to graduate college so this is phenomenal and for him to see that. Something I want to say to my dad is how much I love him and how proud I am of him of how he's fought so hard and that I couldn't have a better dad," says Warthan.
