My name is Cassandra and I am 22 years old. I am a first generation Latina and I come from a small border town of Del Rio, Texas and currently reside in San Antonio. I graduated from Texas State University in 2023 with my undergraduate in social work. I also recently got accepted to the Master's program for social work there too! I love helping people and traveling. My biggest dream is to become a School Social Worker and give back to my community :) I spend most of my time with my fiancé, family, friends, and pugs! There's nothing I love more than being around people who make me laugh and let me be silly.

Birthday Karaoke : https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-vbQMdzBee4

In February of this year, I went to the ER with some concerning pain, but left with an accidental finding of a cyst in my pancreas. There is a possibility of it being pancreatic cancer. Since then, I have been to many doctors in San Antonio and on June 6th, I had a medical procedure to have the cyst biopsied.

UPDATE: On June 24th, I got my results and it is a Solid Pseudopapillary Tumor (SPT) which is rare, common in women in their 20s and often benign but can turn cancerous at any moment. I am getting surgery on August 20th to remove the tumor. I will be in the hospital for about 5 days and at home recovering for about 6-8 weeks.

UPDATE: Today it is October 3rd and I have had two post surgery complications since surgery on August 20th. First complication was from September 6th-12th and it was due to fluid build in my abdomen causing immense pain. After 3 days being home, i went back to the hospital due to an infection. I was in the hospital from September 16-25. Currently I’m doing better!

Even with insurance, I am still suffering with medical expenses and it has been very difficult on my family and mental health. No matter how much I work, how much I pay, a new one arises and it piles on top of the others. My fiancé has been having to take credit cards out to help and it isn't enough. I am trying to save money to return back to school for my graduate studies and pay basic necessities, and I haven't been able to do so because of this.

When you help someone, you help everyone.

Cualquier cosa ayuda. Anything helps.