My Life StoryBy: Cassie Battles

My Life Story

By Cassie Battles

When I was living in the Ukraine, the people were poor. Sometimes there was not a lot of food. Most people who were wealthy used to taunt the poor. Sometimes, Christmas was one of the most horrible days for the children.

My experience as a child was somewhat sad, but not all was a loss either. When I was born, my mom had thyroid cancer. She was happy, but something happened to me at birth. I had a stroke, and I was as white as a ghost.

A couple of months passed, and at the age

of twenty two, mom passed away. My dad’s heart was shattered.

So at the age of twenty-eight, dad

disappeared. I went to an orphanage because

all of my family members disappeared

too.

The orphanage was small and very poor. Boys got

treated like kings, while the girls were punished. The

boys slept upstairs. We all had hand-me-down clothing.

We had to sleep on a cot, and the ladies were so mean.

They made us do work. We were only children.

We ate nothing but soup and other small

items. We were treated like animals. That was

only the first part of my early life.

When I was in the orphanage, I didn’t know

my mom had another child. I was so happy to

find out that I had a brother. My brother’s

name is Audrauios, but now his name is Tyler. My

name was Iryaina and now my name is Cassie.

In 2002, when I was five years old,

something was going to

completely change my life. The mean ladies told us to line up into four groups. WE were scared.

That’s when I met some new people.

The first family said, “Ewe! That girl doesn’t have any

hair.” My brother looked like a polar

bear, because he was a chubby child.

Luckily, the second family loved us and took us home to

America.

So we traveled by plane and flew to America. At first, I

thought Americans were going to be like the Ukrainians “Mean” and

Rude.”

Luckily I was mistaken.

Some of the Americans were not mean. I found the

perfect family, and I have some great

friends now.

Thanks for Reading my Book! Cassie Battles is a sophomore at

Lawrence County Career and Technical Center.

Her home school is Union Area High School, and her shop is

Computer and Office Technology . Cassie loves computers!

SHE IS DEDICATING THIS BOOK TO HER BEST FRIENDS, KAY

LYNN WESTON, CHRIS ANDREWS, AND ALEXA

BRANDON.