TSU graduation surprise: Mom's late daughter added to photo

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- A Houston mother graduating from Texas Southern University is going from heartbreak to triumph after a gift that left her speechless.

Simone Allen took her graduation photos at the university with her surviving children. She had one request from the photographer, who was also her husband.

She wanted her late daughter Jadalyn to somehow be included in the moment, so the child was added into the picture.

Her husband Eric said this is the first time he's done a project like this.

"It's something she wanted to do and I felt strong about doing it for her. At the end of the day, it's about her," he said.

Jadalyn died in 2012 when she was just six years old from an accidental morphine overdose. She was prescribed the wrong dosage for her sickle cell disease.

Allen says that after her daughter's death, she was depressed and quit college.

She finally decided to return to school and finish her degree at TSU, citing Jadalyn and her other children as inspiration.

Allen is getting her bachelor's degree in social work.

She'll take the stage for graduation a day before Mother's Day.

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