Hiram High School student Sienna Stewart collapsed at her graduation and died just two weeks later, according to Fox 5 Atlanta. During the graduation ceremony on May 23, Stewart became unconscious due to an illness. Her mother, Saevon Chum, says her daughter was diagnosed with severe cardiomyopathy when she was four years old. In a YouTube clip, the high school captured the tragic incident. In the video, the principal says, “Just give us a second please.”
In an interview with Fox 5, Chum said her daughter had never passed out before.
“When I got there, the ambulance was already there. She had collapsed. She had had another episode. But this was the first time she collapsed unconscious,” she said.
In a matter of minutes, her daughter regained consciousness. As Chum and the paramedics sought to take Stewart to the hospital, she begged her mom to let her walk across the stage.
“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,” Chum said, adding that “She was just so tough.”
As a result of the diagnosis, Stewart required a heart transplant when she was eight years old. Per Fox 5, Chum credits this with allowing her to live a relatively normal life for a decade, then her transplant heart began to fail her.
In April 2024, Chum said, “She was diagnosed with heart failure. Her heart transplant heart was getting sick. It was getting weak and slowing down.”
Sienna collapsed again two weeks later. In a video shown to Fox 5 after that episode, Chum showed Stewart recovering in the hospital. However, just a few days later, on June 12, she passed away. Nothing could prepare the family for her abrupt death.
“You’re just holding your daughter, your child, and you have to do that 911 call not knowing if your daughter’s going to wake up or not,” Chum said. “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.”
The family will hold a funeral service on June 30.
