Faith guides student in face of death

By Gertha Coffee

The Atlanta Journal-Constitution

“Behind these eyes lies a story.”— Faith Cline, 17, of Acworth, on her MySpace page.

Faith Cline's graduation from high school Sunday left her in good spirits.

Faith graduated from Kennesaw Mountain High School in a ceremony planned just for her.  Her doctors say she is dying from an inoperable brain-stem tumor, and the Acworth teen finished high school early. Graduating was one of the things on her wish list that she wanted to do before dying.  Hundreds of friends and relatives attended the ceremony.

“I’m bawling while my mom reads all these cards to me,” the 17-year-old Cobb County teen posted on Facebook Monday. “One person really can make a difference in many lives. I see that now. Only God knows how long I'll be here: a few weeks, all year but thank you 2 everyone who made it possible 4 me 2 have my dream & graduate. It means so much to me to have that plaque on my wall.”

Faith's wish list also includes seeing a Braves game. Friday night, the Braves helped that get crossed off.

Fall in love? Check.

Faith is a sweet, special person, said her mother, Katrina Boswell.

“She’s dying, but that is not her story.  She never stopped living."

When she could no longer play softball,  she coached.

When she couldn't walk to school, she went in a wheelchair.

Faith loves country music and wants to meet Carrie Underwood.

"I’m just a country girl at heart,” Faith's MySpace page says. Her playlist is topped by Kenny Chesney’s “Everybody Wants to Go to Heaven.”

Last Thursday, in the stifling heat, Faith struggled to make it to school in her wheelchair for the first day of classes in Cobb County -- to pick up her cap and gown, assistant principal Jane LaBroad said.

"It was a huge effort for her to get here with her condition. Breathing was difficult," LaBroad said.

She got to see teachers and friends and even managed a visit with the cafeteria ladies. "The only thing she was able to get out was a ‘thank you,'" LaBroad said.

"She is a good, solid student,"  and finished her graduation requirements early, LaBroad said.

Faith can't say much now, but she knows she is going to graduate "and is looking forward to it," her father, Paul Boswell, said before the graduation ceremony.

She was diagnosed  shortly before her 15^th birthday and was thought to have 14 months to live, her mother said. It has already been 28.

"She is  one precious young lady," said Bob Chastain, pastor of Christ Community Church in Marietta.  He has known Faith since she was born.

"As far as Faith is concerned, she accepted Christ at a very early age and she has  absolutely been nothing but a model of Christianity all her life," Chastain said. " She is a very gentle person."

Falling in love was important enough to make her list, and she did -- with Evan Carswell of  Sharpsburg.  Faith and Evan met on a trip to Washington, D.C., for teens with cancer, his mother, Jennifer Carswell, said. Evan, who had brain cancer, died in March. He was 16.

"These two people looked cancer in the eye and said, ‘How dare you change me?' They did not let cancer change them," his mother said. "It revealed who they were. It's important that they lived. It's a sweet story."

And so Faith's list continued. Friday night, she picked out yellow shorts and a yellow-green Pineapple Willy's T-shirt to wear to the baseball game.

"I'm not going to be dressed like her," laughed her best friend, Summer Sheldon, who went to the game with Faith. A senior at Kennesaw Mountain, Summer read Faith's graduation speech at the ceremony. They both cried.

Faith wanted Summer to thank everyone for all they've done for her.

"She's a life-changer," Summer said. "She still wants to go here and wants to go there. I'm just blessed I got to know her."

Faith is not afraid of dying, she told her mother.

"In her bucket list, she also said she wanted to make a difference," her father said. "So many people sent her messages on the computer to tell her she can strike that from the list, that she has made a difference.'