An 18-year-old’s diabetes diagnosis could have knocked her off course, but instead, Ashriel Reid used it as fuel to push even harder. Diabetes is a chronic condition that occurs when the body cannot properly produce or use insulin, the hormone that helps regulate blood sugar. When blood sugar remains too high, it can cause serious health complications if not properly managed. For Reid, managing the condition has meant regular insulin injections, hospital visits, and pushing through days when she simply did not feel well enough to face the classroom. But the Wolmer’s High School for Girls student refused to let the diagnosis define her. After conquering CSEC last year, Reid has added another academic victory to her growing list of achievements — passing four CAPE Unit 1 subjects despite regular hospital visits, sleepless nights, and the emotional weight of losing a father she never got to know. “I feel like I went through so much,” the teen said, briefly struggling to find the words to describe what the achievement meant to her. The 18-year-old was a bundle of nerves on Monday night as she waited anxiously for Tuesday’s CAPE results. Then, yesterday morning, a knock on her bedroom door from her aunt and guardian, Georgine Smith, changed everything. “I woke up to my aunt banging on the door, and I just got excited,” she said. Smith then delivered the news: Reid had passed all four subjects. Her results included grade two in communication studies, history unit 1 and sociology unit 1, while she earned a coveted grade one in law unit 1. “The law grade is what I have been fretting over,” she said. “I have been through so much for law, so my grade is a testament to that. I am happy about the other grades because they are not three, four or five, so I feel great,” she said gleefully. For Smith, however, the distinction was no shock. She had watched Reid sacrifice sleep, attend Sunday classes and throw herself into assignments and internal assessments, while managing a condition that could have easily derailed her education. “I am just super proud,” Smith said. “She had many sleepless nights.” But not every sleepless night was spent studying. Reid was diagnosed with diabetes in 2024, shortly before entering grade 11, forcing her to adjust to a new reality of insulin injections, hospital visits, and days when simply getting through school was a struggle. According to Smith, adapting to her diagnosis and daily insulin regimen took some time, though she handled the transition smoothly. Even on difficult days — when she required insulin twice daily and struggled with low energy — she pushed through her fatigue to attend school whenever she wasn’t at the hospital. Yet Reid refused to let her illness define her. Her biggest victory, she said, is not simply the grades printed on her results slip, but knowing she kept going when things became overwhelming. “If I didn’t have the family support, I don’t know. Sometimes I went to bed crying, it took a mental toll on me. I was an emotional wreck, but I have my grandma at every doctor visit reminding me to take my insulin and reminding me what to eat.” For Smith, the journey has been years in the making. She remembers a young Reid who struggled academically in primary school and was still not reading by grade three. But slowly, the teenager found her stride. “She is dedicated, you never have to ask her to study. But I remember when she started primary school, she wasn’t reading any at all up to grade three, so it has been a process,” she said. She proudly shared that Reid passed EDPM in 10th grade, earned a grade one profile in CAPE tourism while taking CSEC, secured grades one and two across eight CSEC subjects, and has now achieved another outstanding set of results. With CAPE Unit 2 still ahead, she knows the road will demand even more from her. But after everything Reid has already overcome, she is not backing down. Now she has her sights firmly set on becoming an attorney-at-law. Her message to other young people facing their own battles is simple: “Don’t let an illness bring you down; and it’s just a part of your life, not your whole life” she said.