As some of you know - most don’t because I keep my entire life private, I was diagnosed with severe Ulcerative Colitis in 2018. I had tried every single medication available (some costing me hundreds at a time), I even tried a version of chemotherapy.. I was willing to do and try anything to get rid of this horrible disease. Nothing worked and my body grew weaker, time was not on my side. I had my first major flare last summer and spent the entire summer in the hospital trying everything to overcome this. After loads of steroids, I was stable…. Only until the end of February of this year. I felt my body shutting down. I had no choice left but to have major surgery. The surgery went well… so we thought, until my heart rate hit 180 and I couldn’t eat, move, talk, everything hurt. I was rushed into a second emergency surgery where I aspirated and was put into a coma.. I woke up 36 hours later on a ventilator and feeding tube. I felt like I was living a real nightmare. Once I was understanding of what had happened to me, I was told I had a 5% chance of surviving… I fought as hard as I could to beat those odds and I did it. I am left with a collapsed left lung, rapid heart rate (tachycardia) & two major surgeries to recover from.

After the longest 6 weeks of my life, I am home and doing my best to recover and get used to normal life again. However, I am not able to return to work for quite some time, with two more surgeries to go until I am fully recovered.

Even if you aren’t able to help, I hope my story can make you realize how short and fragile life is. Don’t take a second of it for granted.

-Cassi ❤️