Landen Lester turned the tassel on his royal blue graduation cap as a crowd of family, friends and administrators from Cloverport Independent School District cheered.
Then, he turned to José and turned the tassel on a smaller royal blue cap.
Landen, 18, actually doesn’t like José, if he’s being honest. But for now, the two are connected. Literally.
Because José is the ventricular assist device for Cloverport’s newest graduate, as he awaits a heart for a transplant.
Landen has dilated cardiomyopathy, meaning his heart muscle weakens and can’t squeeze blood effectively. He’s been at Norton Children’s Hospital in Louisville for two-and-a-half months while he waits for an adult-sized heart. Megan Conway, the nurse manager for Norton’s Cardiac Intensive Care Unit, said Landen has a shorter weight time than if he needed a child-sized heart.
Because of his condition, he’s unable to leave Norton Children’s. So on May 10, in a large conference room in the lobby of the hospital, the Pomp and Circumstances March played through a cell phone speaker. Landen wheeled José by a door decorated with a Class of 2025 sign, past celebratory balloons and down an aisle of three rows filled with nurses, family, friends and school personnel. On a large TV monitor, friends and family back in Breckinridge County — more than an hour’s drive from Louisville — tuned into the celebration.
Cloverport Principal Teresa Smith presented Landen with his diploma. He posed for pictures with his mom, Dawn, and dad, David, wearing his royal blue gown and white stole that included two pins: one of an anatomically accurate heart and another of a green ribbon, to raise awareness for organ transplants. His cap, decorated as a surprise by his sister, Lily, included a photo of José, a cardiac strip and the words “José makes my heart beat.”
Landen Lester, a patient awaiting a new heart, is graduating Cloverport Independent School while he stays in Norton Children’s Hospital. May 10, 2025
“Landen is the only student at Cloverport this year to earn both college- and career-readiness distinction,” Smith said. “The teal and black cords that he is wearing symbolize those accomplishments. He’s also wearing a white cord, which designates him as an OG, a title reserved for students who have been at Cloverport from kindergarten all the way through high school graduation.”
Earlier in the week, his graduating class of 22 seniors stopped by the hospital and looked up from the lobby through a wall of windows at the classmate many had grown up with. They held signs that said “Get well soon!” and “Feel better!”
Alicia Emmick, the college and career readiness instructor at Cloverport, said his fellow graduates also wrote him notes and made Landen a book.
“It feels like a bunch of different mixed emotions going on at the same time,” Landen said of his graduation. “I’m sad I won’t get to see my teachers again. At the same time, I’m ready to go on to college.”
Landen will attend Murray State and join its electrical engineering program. Because Landen actually is a fan of robots. He learned he loved to take things apart and put them together while taking classes at Breckinridge County Area Technology Center.
“He actually trained me on robotics,” Joe Clark, Landen’s industrial maintenance instructor, said as the crowd laughed. Clark presented his student of three years with a certificate for industrial maintenance.
Landen Lester, a patient awaiting a new heart, is graduating Cloverport Independent School while he stays in Norton Children’s Hospital. May 10, 2025
As the celebration moved away from pictures and toward food and conversation, one of Landen’s nurses walked up.
“Let me get your numbers real quick,” she said. As she began to jot notes onto the chart she carried in her left hand, her right fingers tapped the screen of José, the ventricular assist device known as an Impella.
Throughout the entire three-minute ceremony, José steadily beeped, giving away whether or not Landen was slightly nervous. At one point, a machine that works with José that looks at oxygen levels beeped loud. Landen looked toward his nurses, they slightly nodded and he pushed a button.
Conway said sometimes that means he may need more fluid or the catheter that goes into his heart was slightly dislodged.
“Because it was one time, no big deal,” Conway said. “If it kept happening, then we’d have to check it.”
As Landen wheeled José in his left hand, he carried his diploma in his right.
“I can probably come up with another diploma,” Emmick told Landen.
“José has worked hard too,” someone said.
And everyone, especially Landen, will be glad when José gets to graduate.
Stephanie Kuzydym is an enterprise and investigative sports reporter, with a focus on the health and safety of athletes. She can be reached at skuzydym@courier-journal.com. Follow her for updates at @stephkuzy.
This article originally appeared on Louisville Courier Journal: KY student awaiting transplant has special graduation at Norton hospital