Columbus State University hosts graduation ceremony for student at Emory hospital

ATLANTA, Ga. (WRBL) — On Saturday, May 25, Columbus State University partnered with Emory Hospital to host a graduation ceremony for a student who is need of a heart transplant.

Grant Martin was set to graduate from Columbus State University on May 10 with a bachelor’s degree in English. However, with almost three weeks until graduation, Martin got news that he would need a heart transplant.

Martin was born with a congenital heart condition which led him to have an open-heart surgery at the age of five and has been under the care of Emory hospital since birth.

With the new diagnosis, Martin thought he would have been able to maintain until his graduation date, but he would end up not being able to leave the hospital to be treated and kept stable until a heart is available.

24 year old Grant Martin spoke to WRBL about his graduation ceremony.

He says, “I’m ecstatic this even happened. I couldn’t have anticipated being able to do anything like this at all. So just to graduate and stuff. It’s kind of the cake on top.”

Now with his degree, he intends to get healthy and look for work as a teacher.

WRBL also spoke with the president of Columbus State University, Dr. Stuart Rayfield, about the ceremony.

She says, “This is a demonstration every single one of our students matters to us, and every single one of our students is part of the CSU family and so when one of our family is in the hospital, when one of our families in distress and we have an opportunity to make that better, we’re going to do so.”

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