West Leyden High School senior awaiting heart transplant graduates at Lurie Children's Hospital

Chicago Tribune

21-05-2025

It had all the makings of a typical graduation party. Blue and yellow streamers lined the room. Signs were posted on the walls that said 'Congrats Grad 2025,' 'You did it' and 'Made the grade.' In the back, there was a table full of Chips Ahoy and Oreos and even a cake that read 'Congratulations Taevion' in blue frosting.
Except, the party was held on the 22nd floor of Lurie Children's Hospital in honor of one of the hospital's patients: 18-year-old Taevion Norris. He had been attending West Leyden High School in Northlake when his senior year was suddenly interrupted in March due to heart failure, forcing him to spend the tail end of his final year of high school in the hospital.
But Norris refused to let his condition stop him from graduating on time — and succeeded. On Wednesday, Norris — wearing a blue cap and gown — was handed his diploma. Graduation music played in the background as he traversed from one end of the hospital hallway into the room of the ceremony.
'This is a very good day. Despite what he's going through, he was still able to graduate with his class,' Tainica Norris, Taevion's mother, said. 'It's good that he has a big crowd to see him achieve and accomplish one of his dreams and his goals, and just to be loved by everybody, because nobody knows what it's like to face what he has.'
In 2019, her eldest son was diagnosed with Duchenne muscular dystrophy, a neuromuscular condition where the body is unable to make dystrophin — a protein that helps keep muscles together. Without dystrophin, muscles in various parts of the body — such as the legs, arms and heart — get replaced with fibrous tissue. That can lead to bigger health issues, such as heart failure and losing the ability to walk.
Norris was in elementary school when one day, his mother received a phone call from the gym teacher.
'I was at work and he told me that I needed to get Taevion tested,' she recalled. 'And I'm like, 'What's going on?' He was like, 'I noticed that Taevion is not moving like he used to move, like his pace has slowed down.''
Norris was eventually referred to Dr. Katheryn Gambetta, a pediatric cardiologist at Lurie Children's Hospital. Gambetta said that Norris 'was around 12 or 13' when he was diagnosed and said that he was 'coming in at least every six months.'
'But he actually had heart dysfunction, probably when he was around 15, and then over time, that just got worse and worse,' Gambetta said. 'This is what we see — that heart dysfunction gets worse over time in boys and that the leading cause of death in boys who have Duchenne muscular dystrophy is due to heart failure.'
In the past year, Norris — who uses a wheelchair — had been admitted to the hospital multiple times, but his admittance about two months ago was unlike any of the others.
'Two months ago, he got really, really sick. He wasn't sleeping, he wasn't eating, he was just throwing up,' his mother recalled.
One morning, around 3 a.m., Norris called his mom and she found vomit everywhere in the bathroom, prompting her to call the ambulance. On March 11, Norris was admitted as an inpatient to the hospital, which he was not happy about.
'And he said, 'Mama, see I told you I didn't want to come here because I knew they were gonna keep me here. I want to go back to school,'' his mother said. 'I said, 'Taevion, it's either that or you're not gonna be here.''
The journey to get her son to graduation has not been an easy one.
'I stopped working because it started getting tough,' Norris' mother said. 'Kept going to the doctor, he kept getting more sicker, missing a lot of school, calling the school, let them know what's going on. It's just been hard.'
Norris' mother initially did not think that her son would be able to graduate on time while in the hospital. 'I thought it was gonna be a struggle, but he proved me wrong,' she said.
While it was not the first time Lurie Children's Hospital had a graduation for a student, the level of care from West Leyden High School that was put into helping Norris graduate was noted by the staff at Lurie Children's Hospital, making this one feel extra special.
Hana Herrick, a school services coordinator for Lurie Children's Hospital, said that she started working with Norris when he was admitted about two and a half months ago.
'Taevion can be very stoic at times, and he is very shy,' Herrick said. Finishing up school for Norris looked like a hybrid model, where he would have online classes with an instructor from his high school and Herrick by his side for additional in-person support.
Providing those online classes, Herrick said, was 'out of the norm.'
'Most schools don't do that for their students, so that was awesome,' Herrick said.
One of Herrick's favorite moments with him was when she told him that he had one task left, which was around the same time the two started working together: tackle George Orwell's novel 'Animal Farm.'
'The smile that came across his face was just so memorable,' Herrick said. 'And he was like, 'Whoa, really.' Like he couldn't believe it.'
Herrick said she was worried initially about how Norris was going to perceive the book, but those worries soon faded into the background. Not only did Norris finish reading the whole book, but he watched both movie adaptations and came up with rigorous reading comprehension questions.
As for next steps, Norris is on a waiting list for a heart transplant. According to Gambetta, he's been on the list for a heart transplant since May 1. Gambetta said she is hopeful that Norris will get his heart transplant soon, noting that he's been given an Impella ventricular assist device to allow him time to get a transplant. His family is also fundraising for a minivan through the Jett Foundation in order to make traveling together as a family easier.
Beyond the heart transplant, what career path Norris will pick is still up in the air, but his mother did note that he had previously considered being an NBA commentator.
'He wanted to be that. So I said, 'OK, well, you're gonna have to work for it. You're gonna have to learn how to do what they do and say what they say, and learn how to dress — well, he knows how to dress himself,' his mother said. 'So hopefully that might still be his pathway.'
But regardless of his journey, one thing was made clear as he was handed his diploma by Nick Polyak, superintendent of Leyden High School District 212.
'No matter where you go and what you do, you will always be a Leyden Eagle,' Polyak said.