LINDALE, Texas (KETK) – Graduation season is near, and for parents it can be an exciting time. But for one Lindale man battling cancer, he worried he may not get to see his daughter walk across the stage. So, instead of a May graduation, it came two months early for Christian Patterson. They held a mock graduation to make sure this father had his moment to be proud of his daughter.
On Wednesday, Christian patterson graduated from Lindale High School. All for her father, who is actually a former Lindale ISD bus driver.
She’s was adopted into this family, but even so, that’s her father forever. Friends and family gathered at East Texas Hospice where Patterson laid and watched a ceremony with no stage but plenty of love.
“The question always is how much time I have? It’s the hardest question to ask and the easiest answer. We don’t know,” Darla Patterson, mom, said.
“He was cleared for awhile and then this coming year, senior year, kind of end of junior year we found out that he had cancer again, so we have been dealing with this for about 2-3 years,” Patterson explained.
The Patterson’s say they are looking forward to her real graduation but Christian says between the two, it’s this ceremony that she will remember most.