Cearra Austin planned on throwing a huge bash for her “Sweet 16” birthday next year — until her grandfather, a Vietnam veteran who battled non-Hodgkins lymphoma for more than a decade, took a turn for the worse.
Austin, who is half African-American and half Caucasian, chose to have a quinceañera — a traditional Hispanic fifteenth birthday celebration — this month instead.
The Madera South High School student hoped that by pushing the party up a year, her ailing grandfather would still be alive and able to attend — “even if it was just for five minutes,” she said.
In two short months she found a dress (lime green, in honor of the Leukemia & Lymphoma Society ribbon color), chose a theme (The Princess and the Frog/Mardi Gras), and planned her party while her grandfather, Jimmie Wallace, coped with blood cancer...