Father dying of cancer speaks at son's early graduation in Greenwich

ByEyewitness News WABC logo
Friday, April 29, 2016
CT high school holds special graduation so student's father battling terminal cancer could attend
Liz Cho has the story.

GREENWICH, Connecticut (WABC) -- A very special high school graduation was held Friday in Connecticut.

Greenwich High School awarded Ferris El-Tayyeb his diploma at private ceremony attended by friends, family, and most importantly his father.

Akram El-Tayyeb has been battling terminal gastro-intestinal cancer and feared he wouldn't live to see Ferris graduate in June.

Instead, he spoke at his son's graduation.

"Just for the last, since the time that I was diagnosed, God blessed me with more time than what the doctors gave me, it's amazing, every day, every single day, it's like a month. Just watching him and having him graduate, it's beyond what I expected," El-Tayyeb said.

El-Tayyeb credited his wife with making the early graduation happen.