Mother fulfills her late son's final wish and completes college in his place. She topped the class

Grief is extremely hard to cope with. Many times, it is the memories of people and the wish to do good by them that help individuals to go through grief with a positive mindset. Danita Algar is also taking inspiration from her son's memories and his wishes to live in a world without him, as reported by Goalcast. Ben Algar had a bright future ahead of him, but everything came to a standstill with his cancer diagnosis. This heartbreaking news had the biggest impact on his mother, who also struggled the most after Ben lost the battle with the deadly disease. Surprisingly, the person who is helping her the most is her son, who gave her a purpose in life before he passed away. 

Ben Algar was looking forward to becoming involved in the trade of making things. He had also garnered a place in the carpentry course at Durham College. He had chosen carpentry after being introduced to various trade fundamentals in high school. The family was excited at the prospect of Ben starting school in September. In a matter of months, he had to stop his studies because of his cancer diagnosis and the aggressive treatments it required.

Ben was so talented that the college decided to defer his enrollment and hold his place for a year. A professor came to Ben's house to deliver the news. The professor told Ben, “I’m praying for a miracle for you and I want to see an Algar in the front row come Fall," reported Goalcast. Ben's response was a bit shocking, “I’m hoping for a miracle as well. But if it doesn’t come, I’m going to send my mom in my place.” Unfortunately, sometime later, Ben died of cancer.

Danita could not function properly and was deep in grief when she got the fateful call from Don Fisher, a professor of 20 years at Durham College. Fisher encouraged her to complete Ben's course as it was his wish. He asked her to “honor him and do it.” Danita believes that this was something that was done by her son from the other side. He knew that his mother needed something to focus on after his death, something to look forward to every day with a purpose. Amidst the overwhelming grief, this course saved Danita's life. She is now looking forward to completing Ben's dream project of making his parent's retirement home.

Initially, it was a bit difficult for Danita, as she jumped from being a work-from-home mom to a student in a course. She had never been on Zoom calls and now had to contend with online classes. There were days when she felt anxious about being the one doing this course when it should have been her son. She felt guilty about moving on. Being at school gave the mother a routine that helped her to see through a lot of rough patches during her grief. She also became a great mentor for her classmates, helping them with their problems. All through the course, she gave her 100% to each and every aspect. She shared, “I wanted to be in that top position and to be able to say to Ben, ‘I gave it everything I had.’” She was successful in doing so and received her diploma as the highest-ranking student in the course. Danita went up on the stage kissed her diploma and exclaimed that she did it for Ben. She added, “Ben was a great kid. He was kind. He was supportive, and we really miss him.”