Teen diagnosed with cancer a week before HS graduation gives incredible speech

A high school student set to graduate was suddenly hit with the news that he had been diagnosed with a form of cancer, and the speech he gave to his classmates following the diagnosis is going viral.

Jake Bailey is the senior monitor of his graduating class at Christchurch Boys' High School in New Zealand.

He was also just diagnosed with Burkitts non-Hodgkinson lymphoma.

At prize-giving ceremony on November 4, Bailey gave a wonderful, rousing, 14-minute speech that was followed by his classmates performing a dance called the Haka and also singing in his honor.

The speech has elicited an emotional response from Bailey's school, his fellow students, and those who have watched the footage of it. The video, posted to YouTube, has more than 240,000 views.

Jake Bailey is an inspiration (Christchurch Boys High Headmaster)The courage shown by Jake over the past few weeks has...

CBHS 2015 Monitors showing their support for Jake Bailey

"I wrote a speech," he began, "and a week before I was due to deliver this speech tonight they said, 'You've got cancer.' 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.'"

He finishes, "Wherever we go and whatever we do, may we always be friends when we meet again."