Published: May 13, 2025 | Updated: May 21, 2025
Estimated reading time: 3 minutes
Landen Lester, 18, has spent the last several months at Norton Children’s Hospital waiting for a lifesaving heart transplant. While other seniors were gearing up for prom, senior week and graduation, Landen was undergoing treatment for dilated cardiomyopathy and adjusting to life with a ventricular assist device.
But one thing he wouldn’t miss? Graduation.
Thanks to the efforts of his family, his school and his dedicated care team in the Jennifer Lawrence Cardiac Intensive Care Unit (CICU), a full graduation ceremony was planned just for him — complete with cap and gown, a diploma presentation, balloons, banners and cake.
It’s not the graduation he envisioned going into senior year, but Saturday, May 10, 2025, is a day he’ll never forget.
The event took place at Norton Children’s Hospital, where Landen walked into a room of cheering staff, family, and even teachers from his school. After receiving his diploma from a Cloverport (Kentucky) Independent School District faculty member, he celebrated with pizza, cake and heartfelt congratulations.
“They’re all very kind and sweet to me,” he said.
After coordinating with the school, Landen’s nurses and care team worked to throw the perfect celebration. Camille Vereschagin, child life therapist and facility dog handler at Norton Children’s, was part of the crew. For her, these moments are about more than just balloons and diplomas.
“Finishing high school in a hospital is hard even without being in heart failure,” Camille said. “My hope is that Landen got to experience a little bit of normalcy — that he forgot he was in the hospital and was surrounded by all the people who love and support him.”
It’s something the CICU team strives for with all their patients — to give them back some of the moments they miss because they are sick enough to need cardiac critical care. In Landen’s case, his heart is no longer able to pump blood effectively on its own. The ventricular assist device helps support his heart while he waits in the hospital for a transplant. It’s a process that requires constant monitoring and specialized care.
“We like to try to do things that allow patients and their families some normalcy,” said Megan Conway, R.N., nurse manager, CICU, Norton Children’s Hospital. “So anytime we can try to get back to normal teenage things, the things of everyday life, our staff is excited to be a part of that.”
While Landen’s graduation may have looked different than his classmates’, it was meaningful — and personal — for the staff, who wanted to celebrate him and this important milestone in a teen’s life.
“It sounds a little clichéd, but staff get so close with patients and families that we become an extension of their family,” Camille said. “I think that makes our staff feel very strongly about wanting to celebrate any win as big as they would celebrate their own child.”