School surprises Mississippi teen battling cancer with beach graduation
Published 12:12 pm Saturday, May 1, 2021
A Mississippi teen undergoing treatment for cancer in Texas was surprised this week by a busload of classmates and educators who staged a mock graduation ceremony for her on the beach.
WLOX-TV reports that Abby Bosarge, of Pass Christian, has acute myelogenous leukemia, an aggressive form of cancer of the blood and bone marrow.
Treatment in Texas has required her to be away from many friends and family on the Mississippi Gulf Coast, where she was born and raised. She completed her requirements to graduate high school in December.
Now, as the date of her class graduation ceremony approaches, Bosarge is in hospice care. Her mother, Jerusha, wrote in a recent Facebook post that the family would not be able to transport Bosarge back to Mississippi without causing her extreme pain.
So, 28 students from Pass Christian High got on a bus with her school principal Boyd West, the district’s superintendent Dr. Carla Evers, a school counselor and some teachers and made the nearly seven-hour drive to Galveston, Texas to meet her.
The Make A Wish Foundation helped Bosarge stay with her family at a waterfront house in the Texas beach town, WLOX reported.
In a cap and gown, Bosarge walked across the sand Tuesday and accepted her diploma to cheers and claps.
“It became quite apparent that she did not want graduation for herself as much as she wanted it as a gift to her parents and family,” Evers told WLOX, speaking of Bosarge. “The entire day was about her making sure that her friends, teachers, and coaches would be ok. What an awesome display of strength, courage, and love.”