There Won't Be a Happy Ending, but Maybe There Can Be a Happy Moment

Grab the tissues:

The graduation ceremony at Hanford High School on Wednesday almost seemed like any other.

The school’s band played the fight song, the program listed the class of 2009’s motto and flower, and the snapping shutters of disposable cameras recorded it all.

But it is November. And the ceremony was far from typical. A squirt of hand sanitizer was mandatory at the door. Boxes of tissues were scattered throughout the auditorium. And there was but one honored graduate.

Liz Evett was met by nearly 650 cheering peers, relatives and teachers as she was wheeled into the auditorium wearing a purple cap and gown.

“When we came in the auditorium and we saw all the people — whoa,” said Evett, who was diagnosed with leukemia three years ago and relapsed in April. “I am so thankful.”

The West Richland 18-year-old stopped responding to chemotherapy in June and was given weeks to months to live. She immediately began checking things off her “bucket list” of things she wants to do before she dies.

She has fed giraffes at San Diego Zoo’s Wild Kingdom, watched favorite movies again and met Mary Alice Yeskey of Baltimore’s Charm City Cakes.

But as Evett’s health faltered in recent weeks, it looked as if she wouldn’t make it to one of her goals — graduation.

“When we identified her as terminal, we didn’t think she would make it to her 18th birthday (in August), let alone the end of the school year,” said Evett’s stepfather Lyle Ivey. “She has days.”

You can read the rest of the article here.

She may not have much time, but at least she was able to have her ceremony. Kudos to all who worked to organize the event.

(and am I the only one getting a little sick of the idea of a "bucket list"? Maybe it's a little too jocular a term for an article about someone who's going to die before their 20th birthday? Just sayin'.........)