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A junior prom is a night to remember for many high school students.
But for Catherine Malatesta, it was much more. She had been diagnosed with stage 4 cancer and was released from the hospital the night before her dance. She slipped on her gown, got made up and told her mother, "Mom, for the first time in a long time, I actually feel beautiful," the Today show reported.
Catherine was readmitted to the hospital a few days after the prom. She passed away in August.
Now, four of her friends are keeping Catherine's memory alive and taking a little part of her with them as they attend their proms, wearing her blue gown to their dances.
They call it "The Sisterhood of the Traveling Prom Dress."
"For these girls, it means more to them to have their friend with them than it does to have the latest dress," Jennifer Goodwin, Catherine's mother, said.
"They're carrying Catherine's spirit with them. She will forever be a part of their hearts and souls but wearing the dress is an outward physical acknowledgement of that love," Goodwin said.
Her family has also set up a scholarship fund that will be given to two high school students whose high school experience was like Catherine's.
Donations are being accepted through the family's Go Fund Me page called "Cat's Traveling Prom Dress Fund."
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