Blake's Battle with his Brain
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About Arnold-Chiari Malformation
Blake was diagnosed on August 7th 2014 with an Chiari Malformation.
A Chiari Malformation is where the cerebellum herniates into the spine - in Blake's case, his was a big herniation, and it was stopping the flow of his Cerebrospinal Fluid, and causing some pretty bad hydrocephalus.
When Blake was diagnosed, he was in the emergency room in Wood County - they got him admitted to UTMC to the Neurosurgery clinic, where he was admitted until his surgery the next day - it was a pretty emergent situation. The surgery they were attempting is called a Chiari Decompression, where they go in, do a suboccoptial cranioectomy (remove a piece of the skull), create a hole in the dura to make it bigger, then patch it with a piece of fake dura called dura guard, and do a laimenectomy, making the space where his C1 and C2 meet his skull a little bigger - to make more room for his cerebrospinal fluid. They also cauterized his cerebellar tonsils.
Unfortunately, while they were in there, they tried to place a shunt and caused a brain bleed - the clot they ended up pulling out was the size of a softball, it was an Epidural Hematoma. Blake was in the ICU for 3 days, then moved to a step-down unit, where he stayed until he was admitted to inpatient rehab for 8 days.
Blake has lots of lasting damage from this - he has hemiparesis (weakness of one side of the body, in his case, his left side), balance problems, seizures, cognitive fatigue, and many cognitive side effects.
This puts him in a hard situation. Blake is unable to work, but as a student, the previous job he held down was part-time. He is unable to bring in unemployment. We are fighting a denial for disability. But Blake is also unable to work, unable to drive, and it's hard on all of us!
A Brain Injury is a terrible thing to have to learn to live with, but you can help make it easier. Any donation helps. Thank you!
Blake was diagnosed on August 7th 2014 with an Chiari Malformation.
A Chiari Malformation is where the cerebellum herniates into the spine - in Blake's case, his was a big herniation, and it was stopping the flow of his Cerebrospinal Fluid, and causing some pretty bad hydrocephalus.
When Blake was diagnosed, he was in the emergency room in Wood County - they got him admitted to UTMC to the Neurosurgery clinic, where he was admitted until his surgery the next day - it was a pretty emergent situation. The surgery they were attempting is called a Chiari Decompression, where they go in, do a suboccoptial cranioectomy (remove a piece of the skull), create a hole in the dura to make it bigger, then patch it with a piece of fake dura called dura guard, and do a laimenectomy, making the space where his C1 and C2 meet his skull a little bigger - to make more room for his cerebrospinal fluid. They also cauterized his cerebellar tonsils.
Unfortunately, while they were in there, they tried to place a shunt and caused a brain bleed - the clot they ended up pulling out was the size of a softball, it was an Epidural Hematoma. Blake was in the ICU for 3 days, then moved to a step-down unit, where he stayed until he was admitted to inpatient rehab for 8 days.
Blake has lots of lasting damage from this - he has hemiparesis (weakness of one side of the body, in his case, his left side), balance problems, seizures, cognitive fatigue, and many cognitive side effects.
This puts him in a hard situation. Blake is unable to work, but as a student, the previous job he held down was part-time. He is unable to bring in unemployment. We are fighting a denial for disability. But Blake is also unable to work, unable to drive, and it's hard on all of us!
A Brain Injury is a terrible thing to have to learn to live with, but you can help make it easier. Any donation helps. Thank you!
Organiser
Dakota Brianne Lause
Organiser
Bowling Green, OH
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