Southern California native, Cassie DeYoung has been a lawyer, a deputy DA and a city council member in Laguna Niguel. These days, she volunteers as a temporary judge and still does some legal work.
Continually looking to have an impact in her community, DeYoung had always wanted to be a lawyer. The desire was cemented working in the Los Angeles courthouse and even clerking for the chief judge of the US Court of Appeals in Santa Fe, NM.
DeYoung still remembers the ladies who helped her grandmother in Santa Fe listen to the books on record she enjoyed so much. “When you can’t see very well, starting a record and seeing where you left off is a challenge. The ladies came every other day to help,” DeYoung says.
She didn’t know it at the time, but her grandmother had age-related macular degeneration (AMD), as did her mother. When her mother started to lose sight in both eyes, local eye doctors diagnosed AMD and said there was nothing they could do. DeYoung turned to her cousin, Dr. Cristina Kenney, DEF’s research director. Kenney sent them to UC Irvine, where the doctor used injections to successfully delay the disease’s progression. DeYoung’s mother eventually lost all sight in one eye.
“I saw how demoralizing it was for my mother to lose her eyesight,” DeYoung says. She looked to Discovery Eye Foundation and found information about accommodations she could make to help. “I got her a huge TV, because she likes TV. I made sure the text on the computer screen is larger. It helped her dramatically,” DeYoung says.
“I joined the DEF board of directors, because I could really see that what they are doing has a dramatic impact. I toured the facilities and saw the work the scientists are doing,” she says. “I’m confident that, one day, they’ll find the cure for this debilitating disease.