Christy's Brain Surgery: Take 2
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In 2010, my daughter Christina was a newly single mom to our precious Adelyn when her first cavernous malformation was discovered in the right temporal lobe of her brain. She had been having symptoms for months (petite mal seizures, migraines, dizzy spells), but waved them off as “new mom stress”. That wasn’t the case - on August 4, 2010 the mass was removed by Dr. David Newell in Seattle.
By that point, it was so large and tangled and inconveniently located that the surgery was complicated. She had a stroke mid-surgery, and woke up with left-side paralysis due to the excess blood in her brain.
Christina spent months and months doing inpatient, and then outpatient physical, occupational, and speech therapies to regain use of her left side. This perserverence was something she passed along to her 2 1/2 year old daughter, who also had to go through some rehabilitational therapy following a successful surgery she had in 2012 to remove a mass in her brain.
Since that recovery 5 years ago, Christina, now 25, has gone back to college and earned bachelor’s degrees in Math and Finance. She landed her dream job working for a wonderful TPA firm in Spokane as an actuarial consultant. She passed her first Actuarial Exam in March of 2015 and plans to take her second in December. She’s also working hard as a single mom to Adelyn, who will be starting kindergarten in September.
Since these malformations are (obviously) highly genetic and also reoccurring, Christina and Adelyn both have regular scans done to monitor any changes in their brains. This year, Christina recieved the disheartening news that there is a significant reoccurrance of the mass in the same area of her brain. She has consulted with 3 neurosurgeons in the area, and decided that removing it now would be the best option.
The raspberry shaped mass is located in the area of the brain that controls all of her left-side motor functions, and is sitting up against the same artery that the previous one was on. That in combination with the scar tissue from the previous surgery makes this one very risky. She is hoping for the best results, but preparing for everything. She scheduled her 2nd brain surgery in Spokane with Dr. Ling on August 24th at 7:30 am at Sacred Heart Medical Center.
Christina is a fighter, but she can’t do this alone. She’ll need help covering regular expenses while she’s recovering, as well as all of the additional costs of a major craniotomy and any rehabilitative services she’ll need after. She is still paying medical bills from her 2010 surgery, let’s help her out and show her that she’s got a community of support behind her!
You can read her story and updates in her words on her blog at welivecarpediem.blogspot.com .
Thank you a million times!
By that point, it was so large and tangled and inconveniently located that the surgery was complicated. She had a stroke mid-surgery, and woke up with left-side paralysis due to the excess blood in her brain.
Christina spent months and months doing inpatient, and then outpatient physical, occupational, and speech therapies to regain use of her left side. This perserverence was something she passed along to her 2 1/2 year old daughter, who also had to go through some rehabilitational therapy following a successful surgery she had in 2012 to remove a mass in her brain.
Since that recovery 5 years ago, Christina, now 25, has gone back to college and earned bachelor’s degrees in Math and Finance. She landed her dream job working for a wonderful TPA firm in Spokane as an actuarial consultant. She passed her first Actuarial Exam in March of 2015 and plans to take her second in December. She’s also working hard as a single mom to Adelyn, who will be starting kindergarten in September.
Since these malformations are (obviously) highly genetic and also reoccurring, Christina and Adelyn both have regular scans done to monitor any changes in their brains. This year, Christina recieved the disheartening news that there is a significant reoccurrance of the mass in the same area of her brain. She has consulted with 3 neurosurgeons in the area, and decided that removing it now would be the best option.
The raspberry shaped mass is located in the area of the brain that controls all of her left-side motor functions, and is sitting up against the same artery that the previous one was on. That in combination with the scar tissue from the previous surgery makes this one very risky. She is hoping for the best results, but preparing for everything. She scheduled her 2nd brain surgery in Spokane with Dr. Ling on August 24th at 7:30 am at Sacred Heart Medical Center.
Christina is a fighter, but she can’t do this alone. She’ll need help covering regular expenses while she’s recovering, as well as all of the additional costs of a major craniotomy and any rehabilitative services she’ll need after. She is still paying medical bills from her 2010 surgery, let’s help her out and show her that she’s got a community of support behind her!
You can read her story and updates in her words on her blog at welivecarpediem.blogspot.com .
Thank you a million times!
Organizer
Joanne Rolfe
Organizer
Coeur d'Alene, ID