DHS senior cooks up answer to adversity

Cassidy Lewis was ahead of the game.

Then she was forced to confront the idea that her longtime career dreams — as well as her day-to-day life — would be compromised forever.

The Destrehan High School  (DHS) senior and aspiring chef has long wanted to prepare food for a living, ever since she began learning to cook with her grandmother at the age of 9. At just age 17, she is an assistant pastry chef at Bayonna Restaurant in New Orleans, a rare opportunity for someone of her age — she is, in fact, the youngest member of the Bayonna kitchen.

“I love the vibes there,” Lewis said. “I love the creativity I’m allowed to have. It’s a great family vibe there.”

Bayonna is the latest stop in her early ascent in her career path. She began working at the PeaceBaker in Metairie when she was 14. Then she moved on to Bistro Daisy and then Domenica Restaurant, both of New Orleans, before earning her latest position. Along the way, she spent time at NOCCA where she was enrolled in the culinary arts program as a sophomore before transferring to DHS full time as a junior. She also spent time teaching students how to cook at Country Day High School.

“My grandmother got me in the kitchen when I was 9, and the first thing we made was rum cake,” Lewis recalled. “I remember her telling me how to do this and how to do that.

And after it was done, we’d created something beautiful. It was inspiring to me and I just stuck with it.”

But in January she experienced an unexpected — and frightening — setback.

Lewis began having stomach discomfort and couldn’t sleep or eat as a result. She sought medical help and an emergency upper scope and colonoscopy was ordered. But, Lewis said, an error during that procedure resulted in perennial nerve damage to her leg.

“I woke up and I realize I can’t feel my leg,” she said. “I freaked out a little. ‘I can’t feel my leg … I can’t feel my leg.”

The damage caused partial paralysis. Lewis had no feeling in her foot and was told she would be unable to walk at all without a brace for approximately a year.

While nerve damage from the procedure has by now been established as the issue, initially she was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis, causing further alarm.

“I was out of school for a month and a half and out of work for three months,” she said. “I’m thinking I had this disease and I’m just trying to research anything I can to learn how to overcome this. I’m 17 and I’m a chef, and I know what this diagnosis when I’m so young could mean for all that. I had a completely dropped foot and had to develop a completely new way to walk at all.”

For a while, those thoughts led her into depression. “I was in a dark place,” she said. “I’m laying in bed, thinking, I can’t walk and I can kiss cooking goodbye. Getting married with children, kiss that goodbye, too, having this happen so young. I had to find the joy back within myself and make the decision that this disease will not take over my life.”

She began maximizing her effort in physical therapy, though at first results weren’t showing.

“My physical therapist said there was simply no progress,” Lewis said. “My mother almost sent me to John Hopkins, because nobody in the state was that familiar with this particular injury.”

But she continued to push. Eventually, she learned that the diagnosis of multiple sclerosis was incorrect and that nerve damage was the culprit. Still, she seemingly had reached a plateau in her progress. During one particular point of frustration, her mother convinced her to turn to her spiritual faith for an answer.

“She convinced me to let the church pray over me,” she said.

“At first, I said no, but then I realized it can’t make anything worse. So, they came and prayed over me.”Be it from hard work or divine intervention,  a breakthrough didn’t take long to surface.

“I was at dinner with my boyfriend and I just got frustrated with everything,” Lewis recalled. “This leg injury is so stupid, I’m thinking, I can’t do anything, and I kicked the table. And then I realized, wait, I can actually move it. It was still weak, but I could move my toes. My doctor actually started crying when she realized I had that movement. I think she had been trying to stay positive for me, but deep down I don’t think she thought it was coming back.”

Lewis beat what was thought to be her best case scenario by a longshot. Within four months of her injury, she was able to walk without a brace again.

Which means she can do what she loves to do — be the best up and coming chef she can be.

“When a stranger sits down and enjoys what you’ve made, and it’s something completely new to them, that they wouldn’t think or try to make themselves,” Lewis began, “and it provides them excitement … that’s so satisfying. It can be something so simple. Cornflakes and chocolate, but it’s so simple yet exciting to an outsider. You can make a beautiful product and give customers joy.”

She hopes to one day own her own bake shop and share her culinary gifts with as many people as possible.

“I love making breads,” she said. “I feel like in this generation, we’re losing grandmother’s touch. We’re losing those values. We need to get back to that because when it’s lost, it’s lost forever. We should preserve that culture.

Let’s develop these products and make something beautiful.”

 

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