It seems like something so simple, after all it’s only a piece of paper with an emblem on it and a name of a graduate, but it represents something precious to a young man battling cancer in St. Charles Parish; it’s his wish – perhaps his dying wish – to receive his high school diploma. Kyle Bergeron is a graduating senior, although he’ll probably never wear a cap and gown, attend his senior class field trip, or walk across the stage with his twin brother, Logan on graduation day. He’s been battling leukemia, for 18 months. It’s been hard. And now, with doctors giving Kyle a short life expectancy, his family wonders if his wish for a diploma will be granted.
Hahnville High School administrators told me that they had “never been through anything like this before.”
No one seemed to have any answers one way or the other on the ultimate outcome of Kyle’s request. The response was the same at every level of the bureaucracy. In fact, the Louisiana Department of Education’s public relations director didn’t feel comfortable addressing the issue until she contacted the agency’s legal department.
It all boils down to a letter of request from Kyle’s parents, followed by a letter of request from the district and the signing of a waiver form.
Then all of the documents will have to go before the Louisiana Board of Elementary and Secondary Education.
Kyle’s brother Logan Bergeron expresses his pain and frustration with all his family has endured by writing poetry:
What If…
By Logan Bergeron
The main question running through my brain is “what if”
What if my life played a different role
What if was too much to toll
What if Kyle didn’t have cancer
What if the Lord could give us answers
What if I just walked away
What if that made everything okay…
What if my best wasn’t good enough
What if life got too tuff
What if my problem became my solution
What if life came with a book of resolutions
What if there isn’t anything left for me to do
What if you felt all my stress too
What if I had what it takes to save someone
What if I had what it takes to get it done
What if I could get rid of all this pain
What if it falls down like rain
What if is the question circulating in my brain
What if…
As the time clock on Kyle’s life ticks away we can only hope, pray and wonder if he’ll receive his high school diploma early, because he’s so sick – or by walking across the stage with his brother Logan next spring because he’s gotten the miracle of healing that everyone is praying for.
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