Casie’s journey

Casie is one of the sweetest, silliest and most honest people that I know. She’s a newlywed of just over a year, huge animal lover and a super cool gamer girl, and this is her journey. 

Casie was a typical 20 something girl, she loved hanging out with her friends having a good time and really loved her job as a dog groomer, when she was about 24 she noticed that her  health was declining, she was constantly sick, weak and spent a lot of time in and out of the hospital. After several months and several tests she was finally diagnosed with an autoimmune disease, microscopic  polyangiitis. The treatment of her illness was just as painful as the disease itself, she spent over a year in and out of the hospital and had to go through extensive chemo treatments just to get her disease into remission. Unfortunately Casie’s body began to shut down, she went into kidney failure and needed a transplant. Casie was lucky enough to receive a kidney donated by a family member, and after several months of recovery, Casie started to be the happy healthy girl everyone knew. 
The past 6 years have been great for Casie, until this past spring, Casie felt as if something were wrong, she was having chronic pain and just felt “off”. To Casie it was like reliving a nightmare, the fear that her disease had come out of remission was looming over her head. Again after several visits to the hospital, the doctors were finally able to diagnose the problem, Casie had cancer. She was diagnosed with Burkitt’s lymphoma, due to her anti rejection medications from her previous kidney transplant. 
Casie started chemo for the second time in her life in May of this year, her treatments will continue through September. My once vibrant and happy-go-lucky friend has now become depressed and weak. Casie’s husband recently had back surgery and is doing what he can but cannot go back to work for some time, even though Casie has an amazing support system of family and friends, they are struggling financially. Besides the day to day bills, Casie has a dog and cat that require medical attention and will be needing extension dental work because the chemo has deteriorated her teeth. 

Casie is a fighter and is not ready to give up, I know that monetary donations will help lessen some of her worries and she can focus on getting better. No amount is too small and every penny will be greatly appreciated!