Updated

A Virginia high school student whose rare skin disease kept him in a wheelchair the majority of the time, walked across the stage with his graduating class, Wavy.com reported.

Jawuan Trotter, a senior at Churchland High School in Portsmouth, Va., suffers from scleroderma , a potentially fatal connective tissue disorder that attacks the body in multiple ways, such as joint pain and hardened skin.

Trotter underwent months of physical therapy to be able to walk across the N-Telos Pavilion stage at Churchland High School to take his diploma.

"He was determined that if he did anything else, he was going to walk," said his mother, Desiree Trotter. "Even if he fell."

Trotter, who had his sights set on graduation all along, did walk across the stage to take his diploma.

Backstage, Trotter’s mom met up with her son and cried, “You did it. You did it.”

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