Support Lujean's Fight Against Chiari

Hi, my name is Lujean. I found out 2 years ago I have a medical condition called a Chiari malformation (basically my brain is coming out of my skull). I slipped on some ice heading to work and hit the back of my head. I ended up getting a bad concussion and had to get an MRI to check for any bleeds. During this MRI, they found my Chiari. This was the cause of my headaches, nystagmus, tingling/numbness in arms/hands and nausea that I have had for years. My PCP told me over the years my symptoms were due to stress and that was end of it. Turns out, this Chiari started to show its ugly head. My fall only exacerbated everything and my symptoms started to slowly get worse over the past 2 years. Last fall, my symptoms got worse and the ringing in my ears never went away and I lost vision in my right eye for a bit. I went to get an MRI and they found that my Chiari is blocking my CSF flow posterior to my foramen magnum and brain stem. My surgeon (Dr. Buchanan with the Chiari institute in Aurora and Colorado Brian and Spine) informed me that I am right at the cusp of moderate to severe and the best thing for me to do is the decompression surgery. I can do it now while I am somewhat in control of the situation or I can wait until it became emergent. At that point, damage could be done to my brain that is irreversible. Obviously, I decided I would like to get it done before it turns into something I cannot come back from.

A lot of people have asked how they can help and recommended I start a GoFundMe, so here I am.

Anything will help and I appreciate you taking the time to read this. If you do not know anything about Chiari malformations, I recommend you read up on it.

Chiari Malformation Surgery

Chiari Malformation Information

Chiari Malformation Surgery Video

Thank you again for taking the time to read this.