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Mom accepts UT diploma of son who died in boxing tournament

Tanner Wray collapsed at the Ace Miller Memorial boxing tournament this spring. He died of cardiac arrest. Friday, his mother accepted his diploma

There are holes in Amy Schisler heart that will never heal after she lost her son Tanner this spring. 

"If you've ever watched a toddler topple and you gasp to catch it. That's the way I feel. But I can't catch him. He's already been caught," Schisler said. 

Her son was 20 years old when he collapsed at the Ace Miller Memorial Boxing Tournament in February. 

"It's like being without part of your heart. It's like gasping for breath and not being able to catch your breath," she said. 

He was an honors aerospace engineering student with a 3.9 GPA. His mom says he wanted to go to Mars. 

And on Friday, with a deep breath and holding back tears, his mom walked the stage and accepted his diploma on his behalf. 

"I watched all of the young people come through. They worked so hard and I know they do. Tanner never got the opportunity to make that walk so I made that walk for him," she said. 

The diploma will hang in her law office for all to see. 

"As a mother I feel pride that knowing that his hard work did not go unnoticed," she said.  

His hard work here on earth, now with a diploma to match. 

"He has got his reward in glory and so this diploma is for us here on Earth because Tanner is getting all that reward that he lived his life to earn."  

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