Justin Smith passed away from acute lymphoma leukaemia nine years ago when he was in Grade 3 but he was at his high school prom in spirit along with his parents and his “best buddies”, friends he had known since preschool.

Justin was diagnosed when he was in Grade 1. Thankfully he seemed to respond exceptionally well to his treatments and the disease went into remission through his Grade 2 year. That allowed him to rejoin his soccer team and return to his swimming and karate lessons.

Unfortunately the disease returned when he was in Grade 3 and two and a half weeks later he was gone; gone but not forgotten.

Justin’s friends and their parents kept in regular contact with his parents, Lovanna and Don Smith, and lent whatever support they could. For instance every year on April 25, the anniversary of Justin’s passing, 60 of them gather at McGirr Elementary School in the playground that has been named after him and release dozens of balloons as a celebration of his life.

As Justin’s friends were about to graduate from high school this past spring, Lovanna and Don planned on leaving town for a while. Lovanna felt she would be too overwhelmed with emotion, especially on prom night, watching the limos going by taking Justin’s buddies to their big night.

But as it turns out, they didn’t leave town. A few weeks before prom night, three of Justin’s friends arrived at the door with a formal invitation for the Smith’s to attend the prom in Justin’s place.

“Justin’s going to be there and we want you there too,” they said.

When they arrived, Justin’s picture was featured on two big screens at the front of the room and, for good reason; Chelsea Albrecht had his photo on her table. Back in Grade 3, Justin had told her they would have the first dance together at their high school prom and she agreed. As best she could, she kept that promise.

It seems Justin was very mature for his years. He may have been a bit of a ladies man too! He told his mom that he was going to marry Sam (Samantha) Kruger when he grew up, and given the way Sam feels about him today, they just might have been married.

“He was so positive, happy and outgoing even when he was going through all of his treatments,” she told me, “and it just stuck with me that no matter what happens in life, if you are positive, things can get better. I try to live by that. He’s my angel.”

So who are the Hidden Heroes here; Justin, who taught his friends such valuable life-lessons simply by the way he lived his short life, or his friends who, over all these years, have been such a great support to his parents?