Teen's triumph over tragedy is met with extended family love as they give her special prom night send-off

Extended family turns out for teen with special prom send-off

One teen has triumphed over tragedy to reach graduation, and her extended family turned out to send her off to prom in style with love.

STRAWBERRY MANSION - One family gathers around a teen, having gone through great personal loss and now on the cusp of graduation, to show her love in a special prom send-off.

What we know:

Rolling out the red carpet on a special night for one high school senior’s prom send-off. After losing her mom and her grandmother, Dereon moved in with her older sister.

Mark Smith, Dereon’s great, great uncle, explained, "It’s important to show her support from her family and friends but most importantly the people who have been here since she was born. It’s just a blessing that a child could come through and go through these things and still finish school without any interruptions."

What they're saying:

Aunt Rosie Richardson said, "And she still stayed focused, so I’m really proud of my niece. She’s supposed to go on to college and we gonna push that.

She continued, "It takes a village to raise a child so our family, we try to stick together and that’s how we were raised. Teachers always spoke great about her even after she lost her mother. She always did well in school and kept it up."

Big picture view:

Friday night, her family – uncles, aunts, great uncles, cousins – they all showed up to send her to prom, to cook food and to show her love.

They say they are a big family who always show up for each other.

"And, when you lost your support like that at a young age, like her grandmother, they were always very close," Darryl Richardson explained. "I couldn’t begin to imagine that as a young woman, because you can’t teach her how to be a woman but you can just love on her."