Dying mom watches her daughter graduate from hospital bed
INSIDE EDITION - With her mother running out of time, Samantha Parrotte had to act fast so mom could be present for her graduation.
Parrotte, 18, who graduated from Champlain Valley Technical Center on June 20, organized her accomplishment two weeks early so her mom could watch her get her diploma.
“No words to describe how incredible that moment was,” Parrotte told InsideEdition.com of her mother's presence at her graduation.
Parrotte’s mother, Patty, was battling triple negative breast cancer and dermatomyositis, a rare autoimmune disease, for 10 months. It started as a butterfly rash on her chest in August that spread to her face and body.
Parrotte says Patty had been misdiagnosed by her doctor, who told her it was not cancer. The readings came back negative because of how hard the cancer was to detect. It was Patty’s dermatologist who discovered the grim diagnosis.
Parrotte’s concern was Patty’s absence from her graduation when she was going to receive her high school diploma. Then, it was a teacher from her New York vocational school, CV-Tech, who thought to bring the graduation to Patty.
“I told my allied health teacher my mom’s not doing well,” Parrotte explained. “She called me down to the principal’s office and presented the idea.”
Patty was cared for at the University of Vermont Medical Center where she was suffering from psychosis and delirium.
CV-Tech gathered some of Parrotte’s favorite teachers from the vocational school and teachers from her home school, Saranac High School, to successfully hold the commencement.
The group traveled to the hospital in Vermont to grant Parrotte her new degree in front of her mom.