During Halloween weekend of her freshman year, communicative sciences and disorders junior Cassie Hines turned a lot of heads because of the uniqueness of her own.
Donned in army girl apparel, Hines sported a freshly shaved head — a by-product of recent chemotherapy treatments.
“She wore it and totally owned it,” said Kelsey Hines, a political science senior and cousin of Cassie Hines.
Cassie Hines died Thursday afternoon after a four-year battle with a rare form of cancer, tubulocystic renal cell carcinoma.
Confidence and strength were defining characteristics of Cassie Hines family, friends and professors said. Even when she was going into surgeries or suffering through painful treatments, Kelsey Hines said her cousin put her education at MSU first.
“Her first thought was always, ‘I’ve got to figure out when to take my exam,” Kelsey Hines said. “She wanted nothing more than to graduate.”
Many people weren’t even aware Cassie Hines had cancer because of the way she carried herself and because of her everlasting optimism, father Chris Hines said.
“She was mentally beyond cancer,” he said.
Even though Cassie Hines is gone, her voice remains.
Before one particularly dangerous surgery that had the potential to destroy nerves controlling her larynx, she spent 14 hours with John Eulenberg, one of her communicative sciences and disorders professors, banking 1,700 different utterances into a microphone. A replica of her voice was created that would help her to communicate if she fell silent.
Still, her focus was always on others, Eulenberg said. That trial now is being used to help perfect the software for others who lose their voice in the future.
Eulenberg first met Cassie Hines as a freshman enrolled in one of his courses. Even through her surgery, she always kept her grades, and her head, up.
“She was full of optimism and perseverance,” he said.
Fortunately, she came away still having her voice from the operation. And Eulenberg still has it on his laptop.
“Working with me in my laboratory creating this voice, she has helped other people,” Eulenberg said.
To continue his daughter’s legacy, Chris Hines said he plans to construct a foundation in her memory providing funding and support for young people with cancer.
Cassie Hines’ funeral service will be held 11 a.m. Monday at St. Kieran Catholic Church, 53600 Mound Road, Shelby Township, Mich.
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