Cassandra’s Story

I started this site because I have  discovered that many people find Cassandra’s accomplishments amazing beyond family and friends. Cassandra was on the local TV channel’s 6 pm news broadcast in March of 2006. The news reporter introduced that interview by saying…

“When they told her she couldn’t!  She said “Let’s try”….” And when she did, the “can’t” list got shorter. That’s why Cassandra is our Athlete of the week…..

It was an amazing experience for her and the news crew treated her so well. They were so warm and they were interested in portraying her as a 10 year old figure skater first, who just happens to have an obstacle to overcome.

Cassandra really liked how it turned out - she’s only watched it 10 times by now. Of course they interview me too and I cry when they ask me how proud I am of her, and here’s why…..

She’s my baby, at 4 months old it took 9 doctors (neurologists, GP’s and Pediatricians) to finally recognize what Cassandra had and send us to Sick Children’s Hospital in Toronto (where she is still seen to this day). The head of Pediatric Opthamology took one look at her and said “Albinism which is what causes her vision impairment”. Is it treatable? “No” Isn’t there any operation to help her see? “No”. Can she see? “Yes” How much? “We don’t know yet, most children with Albinism are legally blind.” Blind? “Not totally, legally”. As if I knew what that meant, all I heard was my daughter’s name and blind in the same sentence. I just prayed and then went to the library on my way home - there wasn’t one book on Albinism except the Encyclopedia and that didn’t help much.

The visits began after that, Canadian National Institute for the Blind, Ontario Foundation for Visually Impaired Children, Preschool Development programs, etc. etc. We had so many home visitors at first and none of them could tell me much, what will her future be like was my main worry. I had no idea what Albinism was and had no internet access or knowledge of how to work it in 1995. I lost sleep, cried and rocked her alot. Cassandra had her first pair of glasses at 4 months old. By age 2 the frequency of the visits diminished but I do recall one visit like it was yesterday.

A well-meaning visitor from the CNIB brought me a beginner Braille kit, it included a little kids picture book, the alphabet in Braille and a tool to create Braille on paper. I was devastated. Was this for real? No one had told me how severe her vision loss was up until now as she was too young to communicate with the doctors. I was not prepared for this visit at all, which I suppose is why it is one of the memories forever etched in my memory. This man told me that I should start learning Braille myself in order to one day help Cassandra. He said that he wasn’t sure if Braille would be her main method of writing and reading or a back-up method to the CCTV’s and other technology provided but that it was free to me and that I should learn it. He then proceeded to tell me that people with Cassandra’s condition are not able to ever drive a car or ride a bike. Being a driver at 16 and loving my bike before that, I couldn’t even begin to imagine what her future would be like at that time.

I told my husband, and he wouldn’t hear of it. He simply was in denial, he wouldn’t ever talk to me about anything concerning her condition. His one and only statement was “They are wrong!” I was on his side on this one. How on earth could they predict her future? How could they tell us what she wouldn’t do? We were her parents and as such we had control of the opportunites in her life.

As she grew up, she was clearly just as stubborn as her parents and did try it all. Some things she failed at, but skating is clearly not one of them.

 

You can contact Cassandra at Skate-Angel@hotmail.com