Every parent wants to see their child walk across the stage into their next journey, but for one Pineville mother, it was a dying wish to see her one and only son graduate from high school.

Eight years ago, Robert Anderson and his son Landon’s world seemed to flip upside down when his wife, Monica, was diagnosed with cancer.

“When she first had that seizure, she grabbed ahold to Marilyn Smith who she called mama,” Robert Anderson explained. “And said 'mama I've got this bad taste in my mouth.'”

Cancer...a disease that can kill and destroy.

“I’m not even close to the same person I was eight years ago,” Robert expressed. “I felt like I was very weak, could not handle it didn't know what to do."

Through a lengthy process, and even a setback, Monica Anderson continued to fight cancer for her family.

“Her strength was absolutely unbelievable,” Robert said. “She went under an eight-hour operation at M.D. Anderson and then she came back she did five weeks of radiation and 17 months of chemo. They found a spot in February of last year, and then she had a biopsy in March and it was confirmed that she had glioblastoma.”

Towards the end of her journey, her husband knew he had to make her wish come true.

“I made a phone call to Dr. Carpenter and that was Monica’s first and last wish to see Landon graduate and I said doc I need a favor, and he says what's that,” Robert explained. “Can we do a mock graduation for Landon, and he says when do you want to do it, and I say ASAP.”

The next day a mock graduation happened in the middle of the Anderson’s living room.

“I went into the room, first thing I did I walked into the room and held her hand,” Landon said.

It was a dying wish, come true for their angel on earth.

"Seeing the smile on her face when she actually got to see Landon get his diploma...it was such a relief you could see it in her eyes take a deep breath saying he did it,” Robert added.

We learned Monica passed away less than 48 hours after Landon's mock graduation.

Landon will officially graduate on May 8 at the Rapides Parish Coliseum.