Help Catrina get her Surgery!

Hi Everyone! I have started this gofundme page to raise money for my wonderful friend Catrina who needs surgery to seal a spinal fluid leak and get her back on track to having a full and normal life.

Catrina and I met in University in 2008 and quickly became very good friends. Catrina had joined University the year before me and started her dance course when she had lost feeling in her legs. After many tests it was found that she had a degenerative disease and nerve root compression the doctors predicted Catrina would be in a wheelchair in a few years. She was advised to no longer dance or do any physical activity. Of course this was life changing to be told at 19 years old that she would soon be in a wheelchair, especailly as a serious dancer who had her hopes on becoming a professional dancer after graduating. Instead of giving up she returned to University after a year out to do a fully theoretical Dance degree. Even without dancing or extreme exercising, unfortunately, the problems with Catrina's back continued and since graduating University in 2009 Catrina has had many periods of time where she has been confined to a wheelchair. When she was 24 the doctors diagnosed Cauda Equina, she couldn't move or feel her legs , and they told Catrina that she wouldn't walk again. But she manages now to use crutches sometimes when her legs are able to move.

Never feeling sorry for herself whilst in and out of her wheelchair, Catrina continued to choreograph, write a successful online beauty blog and even volunteer in schools! Catrina is the kind of person who spreads happiness where ever she goes and never thinks of herself first. Over the years Catrina has worked hard to look after her body with the hope that she will be able to walk again with proper care. 

Unfortunately a recent set back means that there has been a tear in the dura of her spinal cord which is leaking spinal fluid and she needs surgery to fix it. Due to the amount of titanium and scar tissue in her back from previous operations her case is very complex and many factors have to be taken into consideration, Catrina has been refered to a specialist in the US. Catrina is currently confined to her bed, unable to sit up or stand without vomiting and passing out. This tear is not healing itself and needs to be repaired. 

That is where you come in! I am asking everyone who can, to donate towards paying for Catrina to get specialist surgery in the U.S. Any contributions will go towards the insurance, travel and stay in hospital required for the surgery. The surgery alone is £12,000 and it is not possible to calculate exactly how much everything else will come to so I have just set the target at the amount of the surgery so at the very least we can aim to hit that target!

This surgery will be life changing and the fact that Catrina will have to sit upright on a 12 hour flight to get it shows how important it is, as the pain will be almost unbearable. She is determined to make the most of this opportunity to fix the tear and to cure the pain in her head for good. The least we can do is help her with any donations we can!

This is one of my best friends in the world and now I live too far away to organise an event to raise money, so I have made this page with the hope that you will support a beautiful person to get the surgery she needs to continue living her life without pain and continue being the wonderful sparkly person I love.

what is a cerebrospinal fluid leak? see this link:
https://www.cedars-sinai.edu/Patients/Programs-and-Services/Neurosurgery/Centers-and-Programs/Cerebrospinal-Fluid-Leak/CSF-Leak-A-Curable-Cause-of-Headache.aspx
https://www.cedars-sinai.edu/Patients/Programs-and-Services/Neurosurgery/Centers-and-Programs/Cerebrospinal-Fluid-Leak/CSF-Leak-A-Curable-Cause-of-Headache.aspx