‘Virtual’ graduation for Florida teen awaiting heart transplant

Taylor Haberman, 18, couldn't attend her high-school graduation. Since January, the Bartram Trail High School senior has been living in Shands Gainesville — 80 miles away from her school in St. Johns, Florida — waiting for a heart transplant.

Taylor was born with congenital heart disease. She had several surgeries as a toddler, but her condition worsened last year. After months of at-home treatments, she was admitted to the hospital in hopes of getting a new heart.

"In order for [Taylor] to be pretty high on the transplant list, she needed to be in-patient," Taylor's mother, Kelly Haberman, told ABC News. "As far as organ donors, she could wait for years and years if she sat at home."

"It's hard because I got to miss the prom, the senior pranks, senior cookout. But it's okay because I know when I get out of here it's going to be worth it," Taylor told First Coast News.

On June 1, nonprofit group Streetlight set up a five-camera stream so that Taylor could watch the ceremony from her hospital room — and so that her fellow students could see her, too.

When Taylor's name was called, her sister "walked" her across the stage via iPad. Taylor received a standing ovation.

"She was ecstatic. Just like any other senior, she did it," Kelly Haberman told ABC News. "While it was nothing like being with your own graduating class, it was the next best thing."

"Taylor, we want you to know that we all wish you the best," said Principal Dawn Sapp at the commencement ceremony at the University of North Florida Arena on Saturday.

"Streetlight has went above and beyond with what they've done for her, you know, they threw her prom here when she wasn't able to go to prom and now to do the graduation part," Kelly Haberman told First Coast News.

As Taylor patiently waits for a new heart, she has high hopes for the future.

"After thinking that I'm graduated, like it's crazy to think that, but I know I have a lot of stuff going ahead of me so looking for the positive outcome of it," said Taylor, adding that she plans on taking online courses while she awaits a new heart.

Taylor plans to become a paediatric nurse.