Friends’ Graduation Ceremony Will Bring You to Tears

A few years ago, we told you about sweet Christian NesSmith who battled cancer at St. Jude for close to two years. She lost her battle in October of 2009, but her memory lives on through her mother, Christina, and the rest of her family. But it goes even further than that.

Following Christian's mother on Facebook, I found out that this sweet girl would have graduated high school this past week from Northwood High School. I quickly realized that Christian's memory also lives on through her classmates. This is the picture on Christina's Facebook page.

This is what Christian's mother said about the picture.

This picture was taken on May 11th and Christian's friends graduated high school on May 15th knowing that she was walking right there with them. Fly high sweet angel.

You can read more about Christian and her story below.

What do you think about when you hear St. Jude? Do you think about children? It's probably the big "C" word, right? Well, when I hear someone say St. Jude, the only word that comes to my mind is 'miracles.'

Families will either receive the miracle of leaving with a healthy child, or simply having more time with their sick baby.

My senior year of high school, I learned about a little girl named Christian NesSmith. Little Christian was diagnosed with Neuroblastoma in January of 2008. Christian received good news in September of 2008 when all of her tests came back clear, but sadly in May of 2009, Christian's cancer came back.

Christian's mom, Christiana, kept a daily blog that allowed others to follow Christian's journey with the "c" word. I followed the blog every afternoon in my last class period. I never had the pleasure of meeting Christian, but through her mother's writing, I felt like I was almost there with her.

And then the day came...October 1, 2009 I received a phone call telling me that Christian had passed away.

Christian was such a strong little girl who had a brilliant and lively imagination and a beautiful heart. In Christina's blog, she wrote that in Christian's last days, she comforted her mother as well as the rest of her family. Christian was never afraid. She knew that she would soon be with her Father in heaven and that meant that she already won her battle.