Cassie has had a busy last few days focusing on PT / OT sessions and continuing to work on her breathing with the trach mask. She has been able to get up to 8 hours on the trach mask, and is only on CPAP at night. CPAP lets her initiate breaths, but provides her with oxygen support.

Speech has also evaluated her swallowing ability to see if she can eat / drink. While her swallowing ability looks okay, she is still not strong enough to be able to eat or drink on her own. Speech will work with her to strengthen those muscles and allow for her to eat and drink by giving Cassie swallowing exercises.

Cassie was also able to soak up some sun rays outside for 45 minutes today. Over the past few days she has been able to speak for an hour at a time to the family, where she has reiterated how thankful she is for all the love and support that her community has provided to her. Cassie and the family would like to thank the Van Buren Community for making Cassie the honoree for the last day of school walk, and for providing awareness about organ donation.