Jake Bailey was given just three weeks to live after being diagnosed with a deadly form of cancer. As head boy, the 18-year-old was due to give his high school graduation speech, but his doctors warned him that he might not make it.
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But he did. Jake defied the odds to give a heart-wrenching speech to his classmates at the Christchurch Boy’s High School in New Zealand that left them all in tears.
From his wheelchair, the teenager challenged his peers and teachers to take hold of their lives and be “passionately dedicated” to the present.
“I wrote a speech, and a week before I was due to deliver this speech tonight they said, “You’ve got cancer,” he began.
“They said, ‘if you don’t get any treatment within the next three weeks you’re going to die.’ Then they told me I wouldn’t be here tonight to deliver that speech.”
Jake was diagnosed with Burkitts non-Hodgkin lymphoma — a rare and aggressive form of cancer — after several weeks of feeling unwell.
Jake fought back tears as he continued with his moving speech: “Here’s the thing, none of us get out of life alive, so be gallant, be great, be gracious and be grateful for the opportunities you have.”
“We don’t know where we might end up, or when we might end up.”
The 18-year-old’s words showed wisdom and strength beyond his years, and left his classmates and teachers in tears as they sat captivated by his words.
“The future is truly in our hands. Forget about long term dreams, lets be passionately dedicated to the pursuit of short term goals.”
He ended the speech with the school motto, “Altiora Peto,” Latin for “I aim higher.” The teenager’s eyes watered as the audience gave him a roaring standing ovation and a spontaneous delivery of the haka.
Principal Nic Hill told stuff.co.nz: “It was great that Jake was reading it instead of me. I know how sick he is and I was amazed at how strongly he spoke. He is strong and there is just a spark about him. He is just rock solid, with x-factor.”
