When Alana Aichholz was applying to college, she read her essays aloud to her mom, who edited them orally because cancer was making it difficult to see. It was one of the last big projects the two took on together, before her mom, Laurene, a writer, died in 2022. "She helped me feel really good about choosing nursing as a possible career," said Aichholz. As the 21-year-old prepares to graduate from Northeastern University in December, she wishes she could ask her dad and mom — who died when she