Mesquite student posts touching tribute after mom passes away

A graduating senior in Mesquite is getting a lot of attention for a heartwarming message about her late mother.

Every year, Savannah Inthalangsy and her mother took pictures together to mark Savannah's journey at John Horn High School. But her mother recently lost her battle with cancer. Savannah's final tribute to her has been liked and shared hundreds of thousands of times.

Savannah says the photos started as a fun tradition on the first and last days of school. But when her mom passed away late last year, she wanted to make sure she completed the tradition in her mom's honor.

"We were really close," the graduating senior said. "She didn't like that I called her my best friend. She would always say 'We're not friends because I'm your mom.' But I called her my best friend."

Savannah is big on tradition. It was freshman year when she started taking pictures with her mom on the first day and last day of school with ice cream. The tradition went on from freshman, sophomore and all the way to junior year.

Savannah's last photo with her mom was taken at the start of her senior year. Her mom was diagnosed with ovarian cancer when she was in the sixth grade.

"On December 19th, she had a brain aneurysm," Savannah recalled. "It was kind of a combination of that and ovarian cancer that she went into a coma. And then she passed away."

So on Savannah's very last day of high school, she grabbed her mom's favorite Starbucks drink and took a photo with her at her grave.

Savannah posted all the pictures of her and her mother with the caption, "Yesterday was my last day of high school. For 4 years I've taken pictures with my mom on my first and last days of school. She wasn't able to make it for the last one, but her strength motivated me to stay strong during this time. All of my hard work is for her!" The post has been retweeted more than 120,000 times and more than half a million likes.

"I wanted to be strong for her because she was strong for me the whole time," Savannah said.

Since Savannah's photos went up on Twitter, they've touched hundreds of thousands and even got a response from Starbucks. Strangers have shared similar stories of their own parents. She found strength from their words, but especially from her mom even though she won't be there to see her daughter graduate in person.

"I'm glad she's proud of me," Savannah said. "I can feel she's proud of me."

The class of 2018 at John Horn High School graduates on Saturday. Savannah says she plans to follow in her late mother's footsteps and pursue a career in education.