Re: Trunp Refuses to Admit he was WRONG about the Central Park 5
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Date: February 27, 2020 05:35PM
Interview Transcript
Ty: I’m here in Austin, Texas with Cassandra Callender and I’m so happy to be able to talk to you today about your experience over the last, what, year, year and a half, has it been?
Cassandra: Yes.
Ty: With some interesting events that occurred up in Connecticut, right? Regarding cancer and then forced chemotherapy. Thank you for joining us here in Austin.
Cassandra: Thank you for having me.
Ty: You had a good flight last night?
Cassandra: I did. I'm tired.
Ty: Are you?
Cassandra: Yes.
Ty: Okay, but you slept well?
Cassandra: I did.
Ty: Okay. Tell us a little bit about yourself, Cassandra. You are how old?
Cassandra: I'm 17, turning 18 this fall.
Ty: All right, almost 18.
Cassandra: Yeah. Exciting.
Ty: Good deal. What do you like doing? What do you like to do?
Cassandra: I like being outside, going shopping, movies, hanging out with my friends, hanging with my cat.
Ty: With your cat? What's the cat's name?
Cassandra: Simba.
Ty: “The Lion King.”
Cassandra: Yes.
Ty: All right. Cool. Tell us about your overall health that led you to go to the doctor and eventually be diagnosed with - was it Hodgkin's lymphoma?
Cassandra: Yes.
Ty: Talk about those days before you knew that you were diagnosed with cancer. What was going on with you?
Cassandra: It started with having severe stomach pain, like cramps, abdominal pain, so I had to go to the emergency room because it was so bad.
Ty: When was this? What year was this?
Cassandra: It was May of 2014. And when we went to the hospital they couldn't find anything wrong. They just sent me home and I had to do a follow up with my doctor. And there was a lump on my neck about the size of a golf ball and they weren't sure what it was.
They put me on antibiotics for months and they couldn't figure out what was going on because the lump wasn't going down. They wanted to start testing it and do biopsies. They were getting nowhere. They were poking me with needles and biopsies every week and they just said it was suspicious. We did an initial surgery to remove the lymph node and that's when they started questioning cancer. And that was in September 2014.
Ty: September 2014. So at that point they thought it might be cancer?
Cassandra: They were questioning it. When we talked to the oncologist they said, “It looks like Hodgkin's lymphoma.” And from there that's when they immediately said we had to start chemotherapy. But my mom and I wanted a second opinion because “looking like cancer” isn't an actual answer for us.
Ty: Right. They thought it looked like Hodgkin's lymphoma, but they didn't do a biopsy. They didn't know for sure.
Cassandra: Yes, they did the biopsy but -
Ty: They did do a biopsy.
Cassandra: But they refused to do a second one.
Ty: Okay. At that point, that's when we started reading about this in the papers. That, “Cassandra C. in Connecticut is - ”
Cassandra: We went up to Bay State Mass to a different doctor to get another biopsy and they refused to do it.
They had talked to Hartford Hospital where I originally was and they said there was no need to do another biopsy. There was no need for any other surgical procedure.
They just wanted to immediately start the chemo. And my mom and I were researching chemo and I didn't want it. I wanted to look for an alternative. And considering they wouldn't test me again, I wasn't sure of everything.
Ty: Right. Basically, you didn't want to do chemo and you wanted a second opinion. And what were the reasons that you wanted to stay away from chemo that you had research?
Cassandra: The side effects, the long-term side effects that people potentially have - organ failure and problems with your health and digestive system and everything that goes with chemo. I mean, I did it for five months and it was horrible.
Ty: Okay, so you did do chemo.
Cassandra: Yeah, not willingly.
Ty: Was it your choice?
Cassandra: No.
Ty: The long-term side effects of chemo concerned you. Right? Being only 17.
Cassandra: Yeah, and I was reading into it and they were saying possible organ failures and difficulty doing physical activity the rest of your life and I didn't want that. Especially when I knew that there was homeopathic and natural ways of treating cancer. They told me chemo was my only option.
Ty: They told you chemo was your only option.
Cassandra: Yes.
Ty: Okay. At that point you wanted to get a second opinion. At some point, did the Child Protective Services get involved? What happened?
Cassandra: Yes. After we left Bay State with nothing because they refused to do another biopsy, the Department of Children and Families was called because we were wasting time, according to the doctors. They wanted me in for chemotherapy a week after my biopsy was done in Hartford. And they came in and they took me because they said that I had to get the chemo.
Ty: What do you mean, when you say they, “took you?”
Cassandra: They came into my house in October, around Halloween, and they said that I had to go with them.
Ty: And who is “they?”
Cassandra: The DCF workers.
Ty: Okay, the Division of Family and Child Services, or whatever it is.
Cassandra: Yes.
Ty: DCF. Okay. They actually came into your home and took you from your mom.
Cassandra: Yes, they had about 12 police squad cars surrounding my house and the block. And they basically just came into my house and said, “We have to go.” My mom wasn't even home. I was hiding in my closet upstairs because I had no idea what was going on.
Ty: Were you the only one at the house?
Cassandra: Yes. I called my mom crying and she came home immediately to police and DCF workers surrounding our house.
Ty: That's unbelievable.
Cassandra: And they said I had no choice, but to go with them.
Ty: What were you feeling at that point?
Cassandra: I was scared.
Ty: With your house surrounded?
Cassandra: I had no idea what was going on and I was scared and I didn't understand why, because at the time I didn't know that I didn't have a choice. I didn't know that you couldn't refuse to do chemotherapy.
Ty: You didn't realize that they were going to force you.
Cassandra: Yeah, I didn't know because no one said anything. The doctors just said that it was in a timely manner and we had to do it and I was telling them no.
Ty: I assume then that you lived outside of Hartford, Connecticut.
Cassandra: I do.
Ty: I assume that there are never any crimes in Hartford because they took 12 policemen - police cars - away from things that they should be doing, keeping us safe, to go surround your house.
Cassandra: Yes. It was unnecessary to have that many people around my house. It wasn't necessary to have police there at all, but they did.
Ty: So Cassandra, DCF, how did they learn about your case?
Cassandra: The doctors contacted them because I wasn't starting the chemotherapy in the time period that they wanted. They initially wanted me to start the chemotherapy immediately after my surgery in September.
And that's not what I wanted. I wanted to go to another doctor and I wanted to seek a different treatment besides chemotherapy.
Ty: You aren't a good patient to those doctors, you didn't do exactly what they said so they called DCF.
Cassandra: Yes. Doctors don't like when you don’t do exactly what they say because they are the doctor. They're supposed to be right with everything. When you choose to do something that they don't want, they get mad.
Ty: Yes. Did your oncologist have a little bit of an attitude?
Cassandra: He was upset in the beginning when my mom was on my side because he believes that most parents, if their child doesn't want the chemotherapy, the parent, still talk them into doing it and makes them do it.
When both my mom and I were arguing with him, he was probably confused and angry with us.
Because most oncologists take it as when you're diagnosed with cancer you'll do anything and take any medicine out there to cure it. And for me, I looked up chemotherapy and I did not want that. I wanted something that wasn't as harmful to the body.
Ty: Well, the initial chemotherapies were derived from the nitrogen based mustard gas in World Wars that they used to dump on the opponent, the enemies, to kill them.
Cassandra: That explains why I was so sick.
Ty: Yes. So at that point, they took you, they told your mom, “We're taking Cassandra. You don't have any options.” And then at that point, did they tell you, “We're going to start you on chemotherapy?”
Cassandra: No, it was a longer process. They brought me to the hospital to get me evaluated and placed me in a foster home in the meantime because we had to go to court because they really didn't know what they could or couldn't do with me because this had never happened before. So I went from a foster home, in and out of the hospital, and eventually I ran away.
Ty: Did you?
Cassandra: Because I couldn't do it. I didn't want anything to do with this. They were ruining my life basically. They came in and they took me away because I didn't want chemo when there are other options out there. I just didn't understand why they were doing it.
Ty: When you say that they evaluated you, what do you mean, “they evaluated” you?
Cassandra: They brought me to the hospital, to the emergency department and basically they just give you a physical and just make sure you're well.
Ty: Okay. Any kind of psychological evaluations or evaluations of your family situation?
Cassandra: That came later on, after I was initially admitted to the hospital. They had psychs and other people coming and talking to me. But in the beginning there were no psychs talking to me.
Ty: Okay. You mentioned that you ran away. What happened?
Cassandra: They let me come home from the foster home through a judge ordering to still stay in custody, but I could be at my house, ordering that I had to do chemo though. And I did two days of it and that was because I was court ordered to do it and I was freaking out.
And basically, I did two days of it and it was horrible. I felt sick. I didn't feel myself and I didn't want it. I was being forced to do something that I wanted nothing to do with. So I ran away for about a week and when I started getting phone calls from people saying they were going to place my mom in jail and people thought I was dead, I came home.
And from there is when the court dates started coming up and they were talking about what they were going to do with me and I was admitted to the hospital in December.
Ty: Okay, and so in December, when you were admitted, what happened? More chemotherapy?
Cassandra: Yes. I was admitted December 9th directly from the courtroom. The judge ordered that I had to be hospitalized until further notice. It was never given exactly how long. It was just that I had to be hospitalized.
Ty: Okay. Why did the judge order that you had to be hospitalized immediately?
Cassandra: DCF ordered that. They stood before the judge and said it would be in my best interests to be hospitalized.
Ty: DCF?
Cassandra: Yes.
Ty: Are they medical doctors?
Cassandra: No.
Ty: But they ordered you to be hospitalized?
Cassandra: Yes.
Ty: And they are not doctors.
Cassandra: No.
Ty: Okay, that's bizarre. That's just weird that they have the authority to force you to go to the hospital and they don't have anything to do with medicine.
Cassandra: They had my doctor, my primary oncologist, talk to the judge and basically all the doctors were telling the judge that I was going to die. They said that they don't know when I'm going to die, but I'm going to die if I did not start the treatment immediately.
Ty: And this is on a diagnosis of cancer that they weren't even sure about.
Cassandra: To them, they were sure of it, but the refusing to do a second biopsy is what made me unsure of it.
Why they refused to do it and why they were so anxious to start the chemotherapy immediately.
Ty: So then you began more chemo in December.
Cassandra: Yes. After about two weeks of being in the hospital, going through courts and judges, they got the order that they could force me to do the chemotherapy.
At that point I was in the hospital, I could not leave my room, there was a guard sitting outside of my door. I couldn't use my phone. I couldn't contact my mom. And basically it came down to one morning they came in and they strapped me to the bed and they said they sedated me for surgery.
Ty: Really?
Cassandra: Yes, because you have to have a port to have chemotherapy which is why I have a scar.
Ty: And you didn't want a port.
Cassandra: No, because I didn't want the chemo. The idea of having an object inside of me grossed me out. And so they came in to insert it in my vein and I said no. They had to have the officer and the security guards and the staff come in and they brought in the bed bag straps and they had to tie me down by my wrists and my ankles. A woman came in and put a needle in my neck to knock me out. And the next thing I knew, I woke up and I was in the recovery room. It was horrible.
Ty: That's horrible. They literally strapped you to a bed and did a procedure against your wishes.
Cassandra: It took twelve people. Four of them lifted me up by my arms and my legs and had to hold me down. I wasn't going down without a fight at that point.
Ty: Well, good for you. But I'm at a loss for words that they literally did that to you.
Cassandra: At that point I didn't feel like a human anymore. I didn't feel like I was being treated like one. I didn't know what else to do. I just did not want the chemotherapy and they were telling me I had no other option.
Ty: Well, you weren't being treated like a human. Humans don't strap other humans down and do something against their wishes to them.
Cassandra: I told all of them. I told the doctors, I told the surgeon, I told everyone, “I don't want this. I'm not giving consent to this.” I yelled it probably a dozen times and they said nothing. And the DCF workers just stood in the room and watched.
Ty: How did that make you feel at that point?
Cassandra: I was frustrated and annoyed and confused and mad and scared. It was a mix of everything because it's never happened before. And as a human, I think I have rights to choose what medicine I wanted.
Whether it's natural or chemotherapy. Because there are people out there that do it and I wanted to be one of them.
Ty: And you had nobody there with you?
Cassandra: They wouldn't allow my mom to be there that day and they would not tell me why. She was supposed to come in that morning and at the last minute they said she wasn't allowed to be there.
Ty: So they did this to you by yourself? Seventeen years old. So what happened after this forced medical procedure where they put a port in you?
Cassandra: I woke up in the recovery room. They gave me heavy sedation so I couldn't freak out when I woke up.
And basically they said, “This is what's going to happen every day that you receive chemo if you don't comply.” And at that point it was traumatizing. I didn't want to be strapped to a bed every day in the hospital for five months so I just did it. There was nothing else I could do.
Ty: They threatened you, said, “If you don't comply, we will strap you down every day.”
Cassandra: Yes, and the days that I had chemo, they wouldn't allow me to eat because the sedation medicine makes you sick and you could throw up and choke. Chemo lasted about six days a week once a month and then another eight days after that. It goes on a cycle.
So any day I had chemo, they wouldn't let me eat for 12 hours before in case they had to sedate me.
So when it comes to that, you start complying with it because you don't want to starve. And it was horrible being strapped down.
Ty: They not only forced the chemo against your wishes, on the days that you did chemo, they basically starved you.
Cassandra: Yes, until I started complying with it and that stopped.
Ty: So let me get this right. Once you began to comply, then they fed you?
Cassandra: Yes.
Ty: It had nothing to do with the chemo you couldn't mix with food. They starved you to make you comply.
Cassandra: Yes, because if I didn't comply with it, they would have to sedate me and you can't eat when you take sedative medicine.
Ty: I see.
Cassandra: Like when you go into surgery you're not supposed to eat for 12 hours.
Ty: I see. Okay. So they said, “If you don't do it willingly, we're going to sedate you and starve you.”
Cassandra: Yes.
Ty: I'm laughing, but it's an absurd laugh. It's something that I'm having a hard time believing that this actually happened. When were you allowed to talk to your mother and did she figure out that this had actually happened to you?
Cassandra: I was not allowed to talk to her on the phone by myself. Phone calls had to be supervised. Everything had to be supervised. If she were to come see me in the beginning, DCF workers had to be in the room with her and it was limited to two hour visits. Eventually they didn't allow her to come at all anymore.
Ty: Why?
Cassandra: After court, certain things happened and they were afraid that she would be a bad influence on me because she was fighting for me. She’s my mom and she was taking my side. And if I didn't want the chemo, she was going to stand up for that. DCF looked at that as a bad influence. They didn't want us together and it came down to that's what they thought my best interest was.
Ty: Best interest was to be away from your mother because she was on your side. She might influence you to continue fighting them.
Cassandra: And my mother had a very strong opinion about this and she still does and she's very outspoken and DCF didn't like that. They came down to where they thought it would be better that she wasn't always around.
Ty: How did that make you feel, that you couldn't talk to your mother for so many months?
Cassandra: It bothered me because my mom is the only person I've ever had, along with her, DCF didn't allow anyone else to come see me except for a very small list of people that were approved.
It was basically sitting in a hospital alone for five months. And they would make comments in court saying how I wasn't alone because my DCF workers would come and see me and visit me and bring me food. But at the end of the day that’s your DCF worker, not your friend that’s your family, your mom, your pets, anything like that. It's just a DCF worker.
Ty: They made comments like that in court, that you weren't alone because you had the DCF that visited you.
Cassandra: Yes, because I would tell the judge that I was in there alone and they would stand up and say I wasn't alone because they would come and see me every week.
Ty: Well, people that are in jail for life aren't alone either. They have the guards bring them food and put it through the door. That sounds kind of like what happened to you.
Cassandra: DCF was nice to me. They'd bring me anything I wanted, but that doesn't make up for locking me in a hospital and forcing me to do the chemo.
Ty: Right. You underwent chemo for five months.
Cassandra: Yes.
Ty: From December 2014 through April?
Cassandra: Yes. The first the cycle was supposed to be in November when I had two days of it and I ran away. So then in December through April, they finished the remainder of the five months. I was in the hospital for a total of 140 days.
Ty: Against your will.
Cassandra: Yes.
Ty: And you couldn't leave.
Cassandra: No.
Ty: With a guard at your door.
Cassandra: Yes. After a few months they removed the guard and I was allowed to roam the halls of the hospital and use the kitchen and the game rooms and whatnot. But I was still there. I wasn't allowed to leave. I didn't have fresh air. I became pale. I lacked vitamin D. It was overall horrible. I felt unhealthy and I didn't feel like a person.
Ty: Did you ever voice these feelings to the DCF workers or anybody while you were in there?
Cassandra: I did. And they always told me that. “We're in and out of court” and they don't want to see me there, but it's what they have to do.
Ty: Right. Why did they stop the chemo at five months? That was just the regimen?
Cassandra: Yeah, that's just the regimen of the cycle that the doctor said that I should have.
Ty: When you stopped chemo - I guess in April of 2015?
Cassandra: Yes, April 27th was the last dose of chemo.
Ty: You remember the date.
Cassandra: Yes. That was the day I was released.
Ty: So they let you out of the prison at April 27th.
Cassandra: Yes.
Ty: And you were able to go home?
Cassandra: Yes.
Ty: What did that feel like at that point?
Cassandra: It was unbelievable because after five months you adapt to living in a room. And stepping outside, I could just smell everything. You could smell people down the street that were smoking. You could smell food in people's cars. It was just being in the world again.
Ty: A good feeling for you?
Cassandra: It was a good feeling. I didn't even know what to do with myself.
Ty: What was it like for you and your mother when you got reunited finally? Because she wasn't able to visit you in the hospital.
Cassandra: She was able to visit towards the end because I was done, per se. But actually, being back home with her and my family and my friends and, of course, my cat was a great feeling because you shouldn't have to be taken away from that for so long.
Ty: Right.
Cassandra: I didn't do anything wrong. I just simply didn't want to start medication. I wanted something else.
Ty: But you were treated like a criminal.
Cassandra: Yes.
Ty: They don't put armed guards at many people's hospital doors.
Cassandra: A lot of things that I tell people is, “Some people that are prison at least get to go outside for an hour a day. And I didn't get that.”
Ty: Now that you're out of the hospital, you're back home free to do what you want to do. Have you had any further testing on the Hodgkin’s lymphoma?
Cassandra: Yes, and that's what the problem is. My last PET scan that I received in July I believe didn't look good.
And it came back that things were questionable and there's still activity in the still remaining tissue. So my doctor said that there could be a slight concern, but they'll worry about that in August.
Ty: That's bothersome that they forced this treatment on you that was supposed to cure the cancer and now there is still questionable -
Cassandra: There is still a questionable remainder of something in my abdomen. The PET scan didn't come up clear.
Ty: But they're not sure?
Cassandra: They're not sure.
Ty: Whatever happened to the lump? Is it gone?
Cassandra: It's gone. Most of the lumps and things that they claim that grew in my lymph nodes inside of me are gone. But it's the abdomen where they say there is something that is still lighting up. It's concerning and they're not sure what it is, but it's not a clear scan.
So to force me to go through the chemotherapy to save my life and then say, “Well, we're not sure” if they actually did or not, to me that's horrible. Because who is to say in August if they're going to make me do it again if I still have cancer.
Ty: What's your birthday?
Cassandra: September 30th. According to the judges, even in the Supreme Court, they claimed as a minor I can't make medical decisions like that. So in August, if they were to say that I have to do chemotherapy again, I'm still a minor. I'm closer to 18 -
Ty: Until the end of September.
Cassandra: But I'm still a minor.
Ty: Right. At that point, what do you think you would want to do?
Cassandra: Get a really good lawyer. I mean, my lawyers fought from day one for me and it's really hard fighting the State and we were turned down in every way. And to be told that I have to go through this again when it didn't work the first time, I don't know what they could possibly do with that.
Ty: I think you could possibly have a good case right now for what they've already done, with a good attorney, to be honest with you. Because they did inhumane medical procedures to you against your will and it didn't have the result that they said it was going to have.
Cassandra: Yes. They claimed late February, early March that I was in remission, but just a few months later I get a PET scan and they are not so sure of it.
Ty: Well, the main problem with what they say is remission is they look at the tumor markers. And so the chemotherapy made the tumors shrink. But there are other issues that can arise from the chemo and they don't look at that eventually.
The good thing is, Cassandra, we can help you. We can help you with the direction on what you need to do in the future to be totally cancer free. The main problem is not can we help you. The main issue I see at this point is getting you to September 30th, when you turn 18 and you can make your own decisions.
So between now and then, do you think it is something that you would want any of this interview to be aired before that time or -
Cassandra: Yes. The world should know what's going on.
Ty: I agree. I just want to make sure that you're okay with that.
Cassandra: There are people out there that I've met personally that choose natural, homeopathic ways to treat their cancer and it works. And why I wasn't given the option in Connecticut, I don't understand.
Ty: That seems like a fundamental right to me. Every human should have the right, whether they choose natural or go with conventional cancer treatments. What do you think about that?
Cassandra: I think it's true. Either way, I'm still doing something to help my health. A lot of people in media have misinterpreted it, saying that I wanted to die of cancer instead of treatment. That's not true. I simply didn't want the chemotherapy. I wanted something that was less harmful to your body. Cancer is harmful enough to your body. Why would you want to add more to that?
Ty: Why would you want to add more - ?
Cassandra: More harmful -
Ty: More harm to the body.
Cassandra: Yes.
Ty: Which is what chemotherapy is. Again, you've experienced that first hand, I'm sad to say, against your wishes. But chemotherapy is poison.
Cassandra: It is.
Ty: And it does kill cancer cells, but it also hurts you.
Cassandra: It hurts everything else. It kills the good and the bad cells. Chemotherapy doesn't know any different from a cell. It just knows it kills.
Ty: How are you feeling now?
Cassandra: I feel better now that I'm actually breathing fresh air and getting out and moving around. But emotionally it's hard to decide how okay I am after all of that.
Ty: Do you feel like you've been violated?
Cassandra: I do.
Ty: Well, the bottom line is that you have been. I think someone many people should be held accountable for that. But I think that legally you may have a case. So we’ll let you figure that out, but I mean I think you might have a case against them for - I mean literally that's technically considered assault. If you physically touch someone against their wishes. If somebody comes up to you with a syringe and sticks you, that's assault and battery.
Cassandra: I had bruises on me to prove it.
Ty: You had bruises?
Cassandra: My ankles and my wrists and my hand were bruised.
Ty: When they strapped you down?
Cassandra: Yes, because I fought them. I wouldn't just let them do it.
Ty: So they assaulted you to get you down and then they assaulted you again when they forced a port in you. And then technically, I think legally, they assaulted you again every time they forced chemo on you against your wishes. Not that that does anything to help what you went through, but those people should be held accountable.
Cassandra: For the longest time, every day when they came in with the bags of the chemotherapy, I'd tell them, “I'm not giving consent to it.” And the nurse would simply just say, “They're doing their job.”
They were. That was their job. But I wasn't consenting to it. The DCF workers were the ones that came in and signed the consent forms and the paperwork and everything.
Ty: Did they have any compassion at all?
Cassandra: They did. They were nice. They were sweet. Anything I wanted or needed, they brought to me - food, clothes. I could ask for anything and they'd bring it to me. Partially, I feel like it’s because they felt guilty and they knew what was going on was wrong. And also because I think they know it's a horrible situation. But like I said, that doesn't make up for what is going on.
Ty: Well, you know, Cassandra, the good news is that there is always hope with cancer. So the position you are in now, they see some activity in your abdomen, I don't think at this point that is something that you should be overly concerned with. Because there are things out there that we can help direct you towards that are going to get you completely healthy and live a long life.
Cassandra: That's what I wanted originally.
Ty: And that's what you wanted originally. And that's what is going to happen. I am confident that you are going to get healthy again. My concern is the month and a half period. Are they going to try to make you go back in August?
Cassandra: I have been receiving phone calls to set up the appointment for the PET scan in August, which I do have to do because I don't want DCF back involved for missing a doctor's appointment. So I will be going for the PET scan and I have no idea what those results will show. My previous results were not well, so I don't know what these ones are going to look like.
Ty: You go back in in August but you don't know what date yet.
Cassandra: No. My goal would be to try to push it as close to September as I can, to be as close to 18 as I can.
Ty: That would be my recommendation. Put it off as much as you can.
Cassandra: I can't see a judge saying that I'm three weeks away from being 18, but I have to do chemotherapy over again. Your statistics drop after you do chemo and then have to do it for a second time. I had an 85 percent survival rate and that won’t be the same if I have to do it a second time. And if they couldn't cure me at 85, I have no hope that they could do it any less than that.
Ty: I think the main thing that we want to help you focus on now is getting your immune system strong again and getting your body healthy again. I know you are already getting there but just because you're out of the hospital, you're off the poison. You're able to get fresh air, get some vitamin D and just be happy. That's a big immune boost right there, is just laughing and having fun.
It's good to see you laughing and smiling. I know that will help you. But there are other things that we can do to help you. We can talk off-camera about that. So like I said, my concern is for that if they try to do it again. I don't think that when this video gets out and people see it, they're not going to -
Cassandra: There was controversy last year when the story went out. For this to go out again and say they are forcing me to do it again. I can't imagine what would happen.
Ty: No. To me, it's hard to believe that people were spreading the lie that you wanted to go ahead and die of cancer instead of doing chemo.
Cassandra: Everything gets misinterpreted in the media. And what people say and what they see on Facebook and what random blogs and websites say. I never wanted to die. I simply wanted to find a different way to live.
Ty: And you're going to live a long, healthy life. We'll help you do that. I'm glad that we have the connections with the best doctors and clinics and treatments and supplements and all that stuff, these natural remedies that people are using. I'll connect you with that without a problem.
But I'm really saddened by what they've done to you because, to me, it’s criminal what they did to you.
It makes me sad that you're only 17 and have had to go through that.
Cassandra: I made it through though. I wouldn't let them break me. They locked me away, but I'm still here.
Ty: That's clear that they haven't broken you and you've still got your happy spirit and you are glad to be alive and I'm just really glad that you've been able to share this with us today.
Cassandra: Thank you.
Ty: And I'm really proud of you.
Cassandra: Thank you.
Ty: Great job. Thank you, Cassandra.
Cassandra: You’re welcome.
[end of transcript}