SPANISH FORK, Utah — Like most members of her senior class, Spanish Fork High School student Rylee Allsop was looking forward to receiving her diploma, not her discharge papers. Unfortunately, life had one last lesson for the teen.
Following an unexpected surgery, Allsop was stuck last week inside Intermountain Health Spanish Fork Hospital while her senior classmates walked in their graduation ceremony.
Little did she know that hospital staff had a surprise for Allsop up the sleeves of their surgical scrubs.
Refusing to let Allsop miss such an important occasion, Intermountain staff worked to bring the graduation festivities to the hospital.
The day after Spanish Fork High School's graduation, Allsop was wheeled into a room decorated with school colors and found it packed with family and friends ready to celebrate the big day she thought she had missed.
Among those who attended the surprise graduation ceremony was Spanish Fork principal Matt Christensen, who officially presented Allsop with the diploma she had worked so hard to earn. Hospital staff also presented Rylee with a "commemorative diploma" for eventually being discharged.
“We just wanted to do something special for Rylee so that she didn’t miss out on this special moment in her life," said hospital president Megan Johnson. "I’m so proud of our hospital team who went above and beyond to ensure that Rylee had a good experience. This is the type of personalized care that we strive to deliver every day.”
Rylee later took to social media to share her thanks to those who made her special day possible, even if things didn't exactly go as planned.
"May not have been your ordinary graduation," she wrote, "but this was a graduation I will never forget!"
