A community is heartbroken after an 18-year-old high school student, Sienna Stewart, tragically passed away after collapsing at her graduation ceremony.
Sienna was diagnosed with heart failure in April, ten years after receiving a heart transplant. She had been living with severe cardiomyopathy since she was 4 years old and began feeling unwell earlier this year.
The transplant had allowed her to live a relatively normal life for 10 years, but recently, Sienna started feeling weak and slowing down.
Her mother, Saevon Chum, shared that Sienna had been collapsing frequently, and she suffered another collapse during her graduation on May 23, 2024.
In a video from Hiram High School, the principal can be heard asking for a moment as they attended to Sienna. When Saevon arrived, paramedics were already there. “She had collapsed. She had had another episode. But this was the first time she collapsed unconscious,” Saevon said.
Sienna woke up a few minutes after collapsing and chose to stay at her graduation ceremony instead of going to the hospital.
“All she could tell me was, ‘I just want to graduate, I want to walk.’ That’s all she wanted because she had already missed her prom since she was in the hospital,” her mom, Saevon, shared.
Sadly, Sienna passed away on Wednesday, June 12, just a few weeks after receiving her diploma.
“As a mom, you feel so proud because she fought through something that was so hard for her. You have to be proud. Till the end, I was proud,” Saevon said.
According to her obituary, Sienna had planned to go to college in the fall to study sonogram technology.
Rest in peace, Sienna Stewart.