Page 7 - Cornerstone Connection Magazine - Volume 22 - Issue 8

Caylee Cowan almost became a statistic before she entered “My mother didn’t want me to be an actor,” Caylee shared.
this world, as her mother was on an abortion table, ready to “She wanted me to be a doctor. Once I learned to read, she’d
terminate Caylee’s life, until God intervened. “Mom told me bring me books and tell me I could be anything I wanted to
that when she was lying on the exam table at the medical be as long as I could read. I knew I wasn’t stupid; so, I un-
clinic, a voice told her to get up and leave because she was derstood if I could read enough, I could figure things out on
supposed to have me,” Caylee shared. This decision meant my own.”
life would not be easy for the family, already under stress, Everything changed in Caylee’s life when her mother met
with a father who was a drug addict and abuser. Steve Rock—“a Christian and a REALLY good man.” Caylee
Caylee said, “My mom took me to Arizona early in my life said, “He took us in, my two brothers and me, who were all
to get away from my father. I went to many different schools troubled teenagers. We moved into a house where everyone
and spent a lot of time with various families. We had no got their own room. But the main thing about Steve was that
money, and my mother worked three jobs just to support us. he walked by faith; he had to, as he could not see. He was
There were times I didn’t even go to school because no one legally blind and could not drive, but he was the Rock of our
was home to take me. By family. He made us go to church every Sunday. With Steve in
the time I was in the third our life, we had someone who gave us structure, who cared
grade, some teachers caught enough to monitor our behaviors, and got us through those
on to my predicament be- troubled years.”
cause I couldn’t read or tell Following up on her mother’s dream, Caylee entered a
time on a wall clock. They program where she was one of 15 students who shadowed
put me in remedial classes physicians at Mayo Clinic. She was even elected president of
due to the fact they thought this medical group. “Unfortunately, I’d taken on too much,
I was ‘slow.’” working numerous odd jobs, so I was failing one class,” Cay-
Because the family of- lee shared. “It seemed no matter what I did, the labs were too
ten did not have electricity, creative for me, not to mention the fact that I puked every
Caylee spent a lot of time in time they drew blood. Ultimately, to be a doctor, you have to
movie theatres. She would make a large investment of time and money, so you better be
spend the entire day there, passionate about it.”
watching every single show, For Caylee, there was only one passion—acting. Her ear-
Caylee as a young girl which is how her dream of liest memories were of having a deep desire to entertain
becoming an actress began. Cowan • continued on PaGE 8

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