Decellularization is the name for a tissue engineering technique which is designed to strip the cells from a donor organ, thus leaving nothing but connective tissue that once held the cells in place. It’s referred to as a “ghost organ” for it’s pale appearance. It can then be reseeded with the patient’s cells. The goal is to render an organ that can be transplanted into a patient without of the tissue being rejected.
Cassidy Goodson was 14-years-old when she became pregnant with her first baby. Instead of telling her parents, Cassidy decided to hide the fact she was pregnant; she wore baggy clothes and even handed her mother bogus pregnancy tests that showed she wasn’t pregnant.
When she was ready to give birth, Cassidy used a pair of scissors to “pry the baby out” and subsequently delivered her baby - a little boy - in the toilet of the home she shared with her parents. Afterwards, she strangled the newborn boy to death. “Its eyes weren’t open but I felt to see if it was breathing or not, and it was breathing so I put my hands around its throat to make it stop breathing,” she confessed to police. When asked what motive she had, Cassidy told police she was afraid of disappointing her parents and afraid of getting in trouble. After killing her newborn son, Cassidy hid his body in a shoebox in her bedroom. After three days, Cassidy’s mother, Teresa Goodson, started to smell the decomposition and made the grisly discovery.
Following Cassidy’s arrest, Teresa was asked why she was unaware of her daughter’s pregnancy to which she replied she thought her daughter was just gaining weight. “Honestly, if I would have known, this would have never happened,” she said. Rumours had circulated around the school that Cassidy was pregnant and the father of the baby - a classmate - questioned Cassidy. Initially, she confessed before telling the boy she was only joking around and that “even if she was, she would not have kids with him.”
Cassidy Goodson was sentenced to just 18 months in a state facility.
