Oak Harbor High School student graduates early to grant father's last wish

SANDUSKY - For Terry Borowski, one of the most important things he still wanted to see was his son, Darien, graduate from high school.

Borowski and his family are from Oak Harbor, but for the past two weeks, Terry has been staying at Stein Hospice in Sandusky.

Terry is terminally ill and is not expected to make it to May, when Darien, a senior at Oak Harbor High School, was set to graduate.

“That was the first thing that he said when he started getting a little weaker, ‘I don’t think I’m going to make it for graduation,’” Terry’s wife, Michelle, said.

When Terry told Jennifer DeWitt, a social worker at Stein Hospice, that seeing his son's graduation was his last wish, DeWitt decided to try to make it happen.

Earlier this week, DeWitt reached out to school officials at Oak Harbor with the proposal of having a “mock” graduation for Darien and the Borowski family.

Cheryl Schell, principal of Oak Harbor High School, along with Jeff Dornbusch, president of the Benton-Carroll-Salem School Board, and Guy Parmigian, district superintendent, took it a step further and in just a few days prepared an early commencement for Darien to make it all as authentic as possible.

“We’ll do anything for our kids and their families,” Schell said. “This was a no-brainer. I couldn’t think of anything more important than to be here today.”

In at least the last decade, this is only the second early graduation that Stein Hospice in Sandusky hosted for a patient with full cooperation from the school's administration.

“They would absolutely drop everything for something this important,” Dornbusch said of Schell and Parmigian. “This is just important as the May graduation date.”

DeWitt said their goal at Stein Hospice is always to what is best for patients, but also to help make their wishes come true.

This “meant the world” to Terry and up until he saw Darien in his green cap and gown, it was a joyous surprise.

“Just seeing his father’s face — it made us very happy we’re here today,” Schell said. “As parents, we just want to know our kids are going to be OK. That they have a future and can take care of themselves. We have no doubt about that with Darien.”

Though he is an early graduate, Darien still has to complete his senior year classes at Oak Harbor. After high school, Darien said he plans to either pursue a welding degree at Terra State Community College or study information technology.

Following his commencement, Terry encouraged Darien to toss his cap in the air. The two then embraced for an emotional hug.

“I’m so proud of you,” Terry told his son.

jstinchcom@gannett.com

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