Kassandra is a University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign student where she currently majors in Economics with a minor in Business. She enjoys baking (especially desserts), photography, making crafts, watching scary movies, trying new foods and restaurants, and watching theater performances.

It was in August of 2022, that Kassandra began to feel sick. This prompted testing at the University of Chicago Medical Hospital to determine the source. It was there that Kassandra and her family learned of her diagnosis, stage 4 Non Hodgkins Lymphoma and Diffuse large B-cell lymphoma. A treatment plan was initiated immediately, as Kassandra was a very sick young girl. A course of chemotherapy rounds were begun, often requiring a 5 day inpatient stay during this stage. Slowly, Kassandra began to get stronger. It was shortly after her 20th birthday that a friend of Kassandra’s mother reached out to A Special Wish - Chicago, in hopes of giving her a big surprise. After facing one of the most significant challenges of her life, they wanted her to have a special adventure to celebrate her strength and courage.

Kassandra is now in remission and decided that her special wish would be to see one of her favorite performers in concert. Bad Bunny was on the agenda! Her Special Wish Team scrambled to make this happen in a short amount of time. Coachella was the venue of her destination travel wish. Having her mother, Maritza, as her travel companion, the two of them ventured out for a once in a lifetime experience. A Special Wish - Chicago was thrilled to see Kassandra sparkle at her wish adventure. Special thanks to her mother, Maritza, for her help and the Special Wish Team to make all the deadlines and connections to make this happen for her. Congratulations Kassandra, and continue to shine!!