Connecticut Girl Forced to Undergo Chemo Calls Situation a Nightmare

Cassandra C., a Connecticut girl who has been forced to go through chemotherapy against her will says the entire experience has been a “nightmare,” and all she wants is the ability to make her own medical decisions involving her body.

Cassandra’s case has garnered national attention, and she spoke out for the first time since the state Supreme Court ruled Thursday that she must continue chemotherapy treatment.

Casandra penned an op-ed in the Hartford Courant about her situation.

She wrote that her mother was reported to the state Department of Children and Families for medical neglect because they weren’t meeting the doctors’ time standard because they wanted to get a second opinion.

Cassandra was diagnosed with Hodgkins Lymphoma and doctors recommended chemotherapy. She reportedly has an 85 percent chance of surviving with the therapy and her death is virtually assured without it.

Cassandra’s case went to the state Supreme Court on Thursday where a panel of judges sided with DCF and ruled that Cassandra wasn’t mature enough to make the decision not to do chemotherapy. A lawyer for Cassandra’s mother argued that the case should be sent back to a lower court in order to have a full hearing with more expert testimony on the topic of maturity.

“This experience has been a continuous nightmare,” she wrote. “I want the right to make my medical decisions. It’s disgusting that I’m fighting for a right that I and anyone in my situation should already have.”

Cassandra described how DCF and many Windsor Locks police officers arrived at her home in October and how she hid in her closet until her mother came home.

Cassandra wrote that she was placed in a foster home until a court date and was eventually allowed to go home if she promised to start chemotherapy. She did two days of the therapy and then ran away on her own accord without her mother knowing. A Silver Alert was issued for her and she eventually returned home.

“I felt backed up against the wall. I had no right to choose what I wanted. I was told I had a voice and was being heard, but it didn’t feel like it. I took things into my own hands — I was fed up with DCF — and ran away.”

She wrote that she was strapped to a bed and sedated after she returned home and was put into a hospital. She woke up with a port surgically placed into her chest.

Read her full op-ed in the Hartford Courant.

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