‘I can overcome anything.’ Grads faced tragedy, illness.

LEXINGTON, Ky. (AP) - Lexington’s class of 2020 will be graduating throughout this week, in unprecedented ceremonies shaped by the global pandemic.

The coronavirus pandemic was just one challenge some high school graduates in Lexington faced: One graduate in Fayette County Public Schools overcame the shooting death of her brother, another lived alone as her brother battled a serious illness and yet another graduated with honors despite deficits from a bout of childhood cancer.

Here are the stories of how those overcame those challenges to earn their diplomas.

Lexington’s Class of 2020 will be graduating throughout this week, in unprecedented ceremonies shaped by the global pandemic.

The coronavirus pandemic was just one challenge some high school graduates in Lexington faced: One graduate in Fayette County Public Schools overcame the shooting death of her brother, another lived alone as her brother battled a serious illness and yet another graduated with honors despite deficits from a bout of childhood cancer.

Here are the stories of how those overcame those challenges to earn their diplomas.

“She told me I can be angry, or mad or sad, … but I can’t stay there for too long, because life moves on,” she said.

Brown said she finished her studies “instead of giving up.”

Brown said she credits her teachers at Lafayette for helping her through the time after her brother’s death, giving her a separate, quiet room to study in at school. Teachers checked on her frequently, brought her water, and consoled her.

She said at first when she wrote down her thoughts, as if she were talking to her brother, she asked him why he left her.

“As time went by, I just became grateful that I was able to share many memories and many moments with him,” Brown said.

Brown plans to attend University of Louisville. She is considering a career in forensics, as a result of her brother’s death.

What she went through in her senior year, she said, has taught her that, “I can overcome anything. Bad times don’t last.”

HE OVERCAME CANCER, BECAME A STUDENT LEADER

When Caden Tarry was six months old, he was diagnosed with kidney cancer and after the kidney was removed, underwent chemotherapy for the first two years of his life.

As a result, the 17-year-old graduating senior at Bryan Station High School battled with neuropathy, which makes large and small motor movements a little more difficult.

Caden’s mother Michele Tarry-Simonds think those early challenges shaped him, “made him exactly who he is:” A leader who helps other kids and who won the Faculty Cup this year at Bryan Station.

“Caden is the type of student to check in on the new kid at school and walk across the cafeteria to start up a conversation with the student that (is) sitting alone,” said Bryan Station High principal Ryan King.

Caden, along with the other student ambassadors at the school, began an initiative this year in which they would clean up the cafeteria tables after breakfast every morning and after lunch as an act of service and appreciation for custodians.

He tutored kids who didn’t speak English well.

“He is truly focused on defending Station (supporting the school) with his words, actions, and deeds for others,” said King.

Caden is graduating at the top of his class and plans on majoring in chemical engineering this fall at the University of Kentucky. He is currently one of the managers at Countdown Games, an escape room venue in Lexington.

In a speech Caden gave in a graduation video, he noted that the Class of 2020 had missed out on many milestones because of the coronavirus pandemic, but was the first graduating class at Bryan Station to go all the way through the school’s new career academy.

“We are graduating not only college ready, but career ready as well,” Caden said. “There is not a single Bryan Station graduate I don’t believe in. We are stronger than any of our peers and we will remain that way forever.”

Caden said he’s always felt as though he should give something back, given the early health challenges he overcame.

“Every road can start off bumpy,” he said, “but as long as you take it in stride, you’ll finish and it will be OK.”

FAMILY ILLNESS ‘HELPED ME BECOME MORE INDEPENDENT’

Henry Clay High School graduate Lily Guilfoil’s brother John Austin was diagnosed with the auto immune disease Aplastic Anemia in 2016 and Lily Guilfoil has been through a journey with that ever since, her school counselor Rachael Howard said.

Guilfoil attended the school’s Liberal Arts Academy and had been an extremely high achiever even through her brother’s illness, said Howard.

Guilfoil plans to attend University of Southern California and major in international relations with a minor in French.

Last spring, Guilfoil, 18, lived on her own for five months while her mom was at Cincinnati Children’s Hospital with her brother, who was getting a bone marrow transplant.

“That experience definitely helped me become more independent,” Guilfoil said. She said her teachers helped her keep up with assignments so she could be with her family.

Guilfoil said her brother had received treatments through the dance marathon fundraiser Dance Blue, which has caused her to be very involved with the organization. She said he is now getting healthy.

Guilfoil said the experience taught her how to appreciate every day.

“Without my Mom and my brother, I wouldn’t be able to have the strength to get through the school year,” Guilfoil said.