

This is Yassmeen Castanada's story ... ..



On Thanksgiving Yaasmeen was feeling ill. Common cold, sore throat. A friend offered her an antibiotic pill that her friend had from a previous illness. She was thinking that it would help her, but this would be the biggest mistake of her life. After taking the pill , Yaasmeen started experiencing burning in her throat, eyes and mouth. As the night went by, her eyes became blood shot red and the lining of her lips was already torn off. I rushed her to the ER . The dr's immediately diagnosed her with Stevens-Johnson Syndrome. Something I've never heard about. Immediately I googled Stevens Johnson's and I began to panic. In my mind I knew this couldn't happen to my baby, but deep down in the pit of my stomach was a terrible, terrible feeling. Within 4 days Yaasmeen's appearance was transformed. I watched my daughter's skin burn, blister, bubble, n peel off and there was nothing I could do about it. The pain and agony she was going through just tore my heart to pieces. She was transferred to UCIrvine's burn unit. On December 5th she has surgery to scrape the top portion of her body. She was wrapped in biobrane. 2days later the bottom portion of her body was scraped. As you can see in the photo, she was wrapped in bandages from hed to toe. My daughter was intubated so she couldn't communicate with me. i made sure i prayed over her daily, I spoke to her daily and reminded her that she had a daughter that loved her very much. Everyday i told her to fight for her life. Yaasmeens blood was infected and she has had 5 blood trasfusions. As we got closer to recovery, she had a set back. She was having a hard time breathing. After multiple exams of her trachea, they noticed her airway was closing so she had an emergency tracheotomy. she had her trach for 6months. There have been times where she had trouble breathing. She had another surgery in april to open her airway because it closed and the steriod injections didn't work. On my birthday June 18th she had surgery to reconstruct her trachea. She was able to sing happy birthday to me as soon as the anesthesia wore off. Best gift ever! Today 6/25 Yaasmeen had her stitches removed. Yay! Her left eye is very damaged, she will need a cornea transplant. Hopefully in 6-8 months when she is healthier we can face that surgery. As for now, she will just work on getting healthier and spending a lot of time with her daughter Khloe and return to CSULA! This whole expierence has taught me to never take my children for granted. I almost lost my daughter to 1 pill! She never smoke or drank, she is a good kid that was on the right path. I just can't understand why this happened the way it did. But we will not dwell in the past, She has goals and a bright future ahead of her. I thank all of you for your love, support and prayers for my daughter. *Please be careful with medications because an allergic reaction can happen to anyone. #prayforyaas

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