STEPHANIE'S STORY
Stephanie Cotton was born and raised in Cleveland Ohio at Mt. Sinai Hospital to Phyllis and Jerome. Stephanie is the oldest of three siblings. She has one younger brother, Dwight and one younger sister, Kayla.
Stephanie attended Collinwood High School and studied becoming a teacher. She graduated high school in 2000, with the aspirations of becoming a pediatrician rather than a teacher. She also entertained the idea of becoming a nurse, then a paramedic. She decided not to enter the medical field due to the graphic nature of the career. She briefly attended the University of Phoenix just before her 2007 lupus diagnosis. Her goals of obtaining a degree in Criminal Justice was unfortunately short lived.
Stephanie enjoys spending time with family. When she's not working or resting, she enjoys attending Cavs games.
Stephanie has attended about 50 Cavs games in her lifetime, she can count on one hand of how many times the Cavs lost while she was in attendance.
Stephanie has won several contests for Cavs events, including watching a live game from a private suite and winning a signed, 3 foot tall Austin Carr bobblehead. The closest Stephanie has ever come to the players was in 2017, where her tickets granted her access to the players in the Court Club. Stars JR Smith, Matthew Dellavedova (Bucks player at the time), and LeBron James were experienced, there are short videos posted on her Instagram account. IG: @stephcotton_
Her dream goal is to one day sit court side. To add a cherry on top, take photos during a game, while sitting court side.
Stephanie also enjoys watching the Guardians play at Progressive Field but must be mindful of her sensitivity to too much sunlight as it could cause a flare. In her lifetime, she has only experienced the Indians play a handful of times and as the Guardians, about 10 times.
Stephanie enjoys going to Dave & Busters, attending the Cleveland Auto Show, the Asian Lantern Festival, the Cleveland Museum of Art, listening to music, shooting pool, attending concerts and comedy shows, shopping with her mom, fishing with her dad, "swashbuckling" with her brother, and movie going with her sister.
Stephanie likes watching the sun set and taking photos at Voinovich Park and the Lakewood Solstice Steps or taking a hike behind Squire's castle.
Stephanie was diagnosed with SLE Lupus in 2007, making work difficult while managing symptoms.
Medical expenses began to accumulate and the need for secondary income became evident.
For the better part of the diagnosis, specialists struggled with coming up with the perfect variation of medications to control her symptoms.
Due of the constant pain and inflammation that Stephanie faced early on, she considered and attempted to apply for SSD (Social Security Disability).
Working was extremely difficult for the first three years or so. Daily tasks were nearly impossible to achieve such as squeezing a towel to wash her face, gripping a toothbrush to brush her teeth, looping shoe strings to tie her shoes, and some times hold a spoon or fork to eat. Most days, it was extremely difficult to get out the bed.
Despite these circumstances, she continued show up for herself and for others.
In 2012, she was fortunate enough to land an office job. This job came with a significant increase in salary. Having this job allowed less strain on the body. This job was the breath of fresh air that was much needed.
Over the next few years, Stephanie began showing signs of stability and even remission.
She was able to get to a point that allowed her the ability to do "normal" things such as take a walk on the beach, or walk that extra mile on the trail. After testing her limits, she would then begin exploring the photography market and gathering materials to launch her own business.
In 2022, Stephanie decided to officially incorporate her photography business . The idea of creating a business was risky but she was up for the challenge. After much research and obtaining an inventory of high tech equipment and tools, Stephanie created SpittingImages Photography.
Over the years, Stephanie would form relationships with other small business owners, collaborate with other photographers and videographers around the greater Cleveland area.
Photography was something she was really good at but there was ALWAYS room for growth. Photography was where she felt most creative as it allowed her the opportunity to connect with others and often times, make a positive impact with her clients simply with a photograph.
In 2024, Stephanie suffered a major accident at home that resulted in both her feet becoming fractured. This accident was on the account of a botched construction project. She was non-weight bearing, in a cast and a boot for a little over two months.
After those two months, she transitioned to a walking boot and a special walking shoe and completed several months of physical therapy.
This major set back put a huge damper on her photography career but she was able to outsource her services to the businesses she'd made connections with.
After a brief hiatus, Stephanie was back in the field, taking photos.
In 2025, Stephanie experienced flu-like symptoms. These symptoms were not the flu and turned out to be more serious than she anticipated. Stephanie was diagnosed with diverticulitis and C-diff. Diverticulitis is a condition where the wall of the colon becomes inflamed and infected. C-diff is a bacterial infection in the colon. By having both these life threatening infections, emergency surgery and dialysis was mandatory.
Stephanie was admitted to the hospital early February of 2025, emergency surgery shortly after, and was released in the middle of March. She was on medical leave and was able to return to work the middle of May.
Despite these life changing events, she continues to fight.
Present day 2026, Stephanie is currently living with ESKD (End Stage Kidney Disease). Stephanie is expected to to begin dialysis soon, once again due to the worsening and failure of her kidneys. While she receives dialysis, there are TWO MAIN GOALS in order: ONE, become stable enough to have her ileostomy reversed, which will result in another surgery and TWO, await the call for a living kidney donor.
CLASS OF 2020 PORTFOLIO
