BY AINSWORTH MORRIS Career & Education writer Sunday, May 11, 2014
TWENTY-THREE-YEAR-OLD Shoyea-Gaye Grant is one happy camper.
Having recently been nominated and selected as the 2013 prime minister's youth awardee for excellence in academics, this young woman says she's honoured and humbled by the award, which adds to her many other accomplishments even while she battles with lupus.
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| GRANT... I’m ecstatic. I’m overwhelmed with joy |
Lupus is a chronic inflammatory disease that occurs when the body's immune system attacks its own tissues and organs. Studies by The Mayo Clinic reveal that inflammation caused by lupus can affect many different body systems — including the joints, skin, kidneys, blood cells, brain, heart, and lungs.
Grant graduated last year from the University of the West Indies, Mona, with a 4.0
GPA and consequently a first-class honours bachelor's degree in psychology.
Topping her classes was no easy feat, she says, as she had several bouts with the disease that effectively "took her out of commission".
"Lupus, that's my biggest challenge even to this day. Its unpredictability and the constant pain, fatigue, and general discomfort make my journey a constant struggle," Grant says.
But this was not all. Coupled with illness was the financial struggles that dogged her ability to stay in school and be healthy.
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| Shoya-Gaye & PM, Simpson-Miller |
"I also faced the challenge of limited financial resources. Financing a university education is a huge burden. That coupled with lupus
was terribly unbearable. I have monthly visits, medication I have to take every day... "Additionally, I'm not an only child, and my mother is recovering from a stroke she had in 2007. My father had to be solely providing for my sisters and myself, along with my mother, and it was rough." more
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