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Days before her daughter's big day, 35-year-old primary school teacher Debrakaye Stewart was in tears.

Her only child, 11-year-old Dijonae Gordon, had fallen ill, yet another hurdle in a journey marked by a list of medical challenges she's battled since birth. Diagnosed with various ailments including scoliosis, bilateral club feet, and chronic hip dislocation, Dijonae didn't let any of that stop her. Last Thursday, she proudly marched across the stage at St George's Girls' Primary and Infant School's graduation ceremony, scooping up awards for Top Speller, Academic Excellence, and Top Student. Come September, she'll be sporting her new uniform at St Hugh's High School. For Dijonae, graduation was "very exciting".

"I really stepped into my upcoming future. The journey to get there, especially preparing for PEP exams, was interesting," she admitted. "But I'm glad that I was able to get this over with so that I could be able to graduate."

She credited her success to "help from my mommy, my grandmother, and some of my amazing teachers".

"Grandma [Jasmin Orgill] has been there always, mom made sure I made it to Saturday classes and my teachers guided me," she said. Stewart recalled the tough pregnancy journey she had with Dijonae.

"It was not a smooth journey, after hearing that pregnancy was not going well; it was very hard to process and [I was] worrying. As a young mommy, I was so worried because as a mother you want the best for your baby, but they [doctors] just kept on sending me to test upon test upon test," she said.

When Dijonae was born via C-section, doctors confirmed her various conditions.

"The condition was very new to me. I've never seen anybody with those conditions and as a young mummy, at one point, I was wondering if it could rectify," she said. But what reassured her over the years was knowing that Dijonae is smart.

"Her cognitive is 100 per cent working. She is a very bright girl and she keeps on giving me that push because she's a brilliant student," she said. Despite the daily battles, Stewart has always taught Dijonae to love herself.

"I let her know that these are the conditions that you have. Some can be corrected, but you have to know who you are, believe in yourself. Not everybody is going to love you [but] the key thing, mommy loves you, your family loves you," she said. "She believes in herself so much that nothing will not crush her. Everywhere she goes, persons love her. And that's a plus."

Leading up to graduation wasn't easy as Dijonae got ill the Monday before the event.

"I started crying because of course, as a mommy, I was like, 'Oh my God, she's not very well', but she had worked so hard to march. I was conflicted but she pushed and went to practice," Stewart said.

Even the morning of graduation had its own drama as the taxi did not come on time.

"Nothing was going as planned but when I reached there, they had some delays and realising that my baby didn't miss her march, I started crying again when the teacher told me she's not late," she laughed.

Watching her daughter march across the stage, Stewart said she was "super, super excited".

"Let me tell you, I feel over the moon because my baby just bounced back after everything she had to go through," she said. "That batch, they pool together like twin babies. They love her dearly.

Stewart recalled that Dijonae's classmates volunteered to carry her books at school, help her down the stairs, and finally held her hand and matched her pace at graduation. "They would not leave her along the way." Stewart said family support, especially from Dijonae's grandmother, who shadows her at school, has been vital. Despite hospital visits which once meant three to four appointments weekly, Dijonae's love for school kept her going.

"I just hope that they [special needs children] don't give up and they should chase after their dreams. Don't let anyone dim their light and just try and do anything," Dijonae said.