An 18-year-old from Georgia has died almost three weeks after she collapsed during her high school graduation.
The scary moment Sienna Stewart collapsed shortly after the Hiram High School commencement ceremony began was captured on camera at the event.
A school official was seen walking up to the microphone before asking the crowd to “give us a second”, before calling out to Sienna’s mother, Saevon Chum.
After Sienna regained consciousness, she asked her mother to let her walk across the stage and was the last graduate to do so, receiving a huge round of applause.
Tragically, less than three weeks after that moment, her mother has revealed that Sienna has died.
The young woman had been diagnosed with severe cardiomyopathy at the age of four when she began “getting sick” and was given a transplant, Saevon tolf FOX 5 Atlanta.
After having the transplant, Sienna was able to live a “relatively normal life for 10 years”, before she began “getting weak and slowing down”.
The teen was then diagnosed with heart failure last April, when she began experiencing episodes where she would collapse, including at her graduation on May 23, and again two weeks later.
Her mother tearfully told the outlet: “It was a scary moment at graduation, but she was a tough cookie ever since she was little. She was just so tough. She was just strength and resilience, she was just so strong.”
She revealed that Sienna had been desperate to do the walk across the stage to collect her diploma, adding: “All she could tell me is, ‘I just want to graduate, I want to walk.’
“That’s all she wanted, because she already missed her prom, because before then she was in the hospital and missed her senior prom.”
Saevon shared her pride at watching her daughter graduate high school and walk across the stage despite having collapsed not long before, adding: “As a mom, you feel so proud because she just fought through something that hurts her. You have to be proud. Till the end, I was proud.”
Tragically, Sienna died on Wednesday, June 12.
According to her obituary, the hardworking teen had planned to go to college and was due to begin studying sonogram tech in the fall.
Her loved ones remembered her as someone whose “presence alone is contagious, her laugh, smile, her unexpected jokes, and dark humor make you fall off your seat.”
The obituary added: “She fill the room with sweet warm respectful energy, her upbeat enthused tone of voice that uplifts your spirits instantly. Sienna fashion sensibility is unmatched, always looking so amazing every where she goes. Everyone that knows her know this.”
A GoFundMe has been set up to help her family in the wake of their devastating loss, and $9,402 has so far been raised of its $10,000 target.
Our thoughts remain with Sienna’s family and friends at this devastating time.
Featured image credit: Hiram High School/YouTube
June 25, 24
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18-year-old dies after collapsing during her high school graduation
By Kim Novak
An 18-year-old from Georgia has died almost three weeks after she collapsed during her high school graduation.
The scary moment Sienna Stewart collapsed shortly after the Hiram High School commencement ceremony began was captured on camera at the event.
A school official was seen walking up to the microphone before asking the crowd to “give us a second”, before calling out to Sienna’s mother, Saevon Chum.
After Sienna regained consciousness, she asked her mother to let her walk across the stage and was the last graduate to do so, receiving a huge round of applause.
Tragically, less than three weeks after that moment, her mother has revealed that Sienna has died.
The young woman had been diagnosed with severe cardiomyopathy at the age of four when she began “getting sick” and was given a transplant, Saevon tolf FOX 5 Atlanta.
After having the transplant, Sienna was able to live a “relatively normal life for 10 years”, before she began “getting weak and slowing down”.
The teen was then diagnosed with heart failure last April, when she began experiencing episodes where she would collapse, including at her graduation on May 23, and again two weeks later.
Her mother tearfully told the outlet: “It was a scary moment at graduation, but she was a tough cookie ever since she was little. She was just so tough. She was just strength and resilience, she was just so strong.”
She revealed that Sienna had been desperate to do the walk across the stage to collect her diploma, adding: “All she could tell me is, ‘I just want to graduate, I want to walk.’
“That’s all she wanted, because she already missed her prom, because before then she was in the hospital and missed her senior prom.”
Saevon shared her pride at watching her daughter graduate high school and walk across the stage despite having collapsed not long before, adding: “As a mom, you feel so proud because she just fought through something that hurts her. You have to be proud. Till the end, I was proud.”
Tragically, Sienna died on Wednesday, June 12.
According to her obituary, the hardworking teen had planned to go to college and was due to begin studying sonogram tech in the fall.
Her loved ones remembered her as someone whose “presence alone is contagious, her laugh, smile, her unexpected jokes, and dark humor make you fall off your seat.”
The obituary added: “She fill the room with sweet warm respectful energy, her upbeat enthused tone of voice that uplifts your spirits instantly. Sienna fashion sensibility is unmatched, always looking so amazing every where she goes. Everyone that knows her know this.”
A GoFundMe has been set up to help her family in the wake of their devastating loss, and $9,402 has so far been raised of its $10,000 target.
Our thoughts remain with Sienna’s family and friends at this devastating time.
