Texas Teen With Terminal Cancer Celebrates High School Graduation in Early Ceremony

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Crystal “Iris” Marquez, a 17-year-old student at Taylor High School in Alief, walked across the stage and accepted her diploma last Friday, months ahead of her school’s actual graduation date.

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“Class of 2019, I have been chosen. Farewell my friends, I’ve gone to a better place,” Marquez said in an emotional speech addressing her classmates.

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Marquez was diagnosed with Ewing’s sarcoma in her shoulder in April 2015. She underwent chemotherapy for a year and was told she was cancer-free, but the disease returned six months later and doctors told her it had spread.

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