CMI Fundraising Dinner

Below is some information on CMI and my very close friend who suffers from this condition. She requires surgery which will require months of post operative care and rehabilitation.

There are raffle tickets on sale. First prize is a trip to Thailand & second prize is 2 return tickets to Melbourne. Tickets $2.50 each or book of 10 $25

I will have raffle books at the canteen when it is opened for business again - anyone interested can come and see the tuck shop lady:)

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Ms Yasmin Martins, is 29 years old, she is a wife and a mother of 2 year old daughter. Up until two years ago Yasmin was considered to be in great physical health until she started losing feeling in her arm and she started having blurred vision, dizziness, ringing in her ears and not long after that, excruciatingly painful headaches which she now lives with every day and cannot live a normal life.

Yasmin went from one doctor to the next, and no one could diagnose her problem except to say she was suffering depression. Yasmin was not convinced so requested an MRI which proved she had Chiari I malformation. Yasmin struggles to perform her normal everyday activities and requires surgery (brain surgery) to relieve the unbearable symptoms associated with Chiari I malformation and to restore her quality of life.

What is Chiari I malformation?
Chiari I malformation (CMI) is a serious neurological disorder which involves abnormalities of the skull and is presumed to be present at birth. CMI is believed to occur when the skull is formed improperly during fetal development, and the space is too small to hold all the contents, which in turn leads to parts of the brain pushing out of the skull into the spine region, which disrupts the normal workings of the cerebrospinal fluid system. If left untreated Yasmin's quality of life will rapidly deteriorate and can lead to paralysis and in some cases death. Professor Marcus A Stoodley, Neurosurgeon, will be performing this life changing surgery.

Professor Stoodley is a world renowned Neurosurgeon and the best in the country when it comes to posterior fossa decompression surgery and associated syringomyelia surgery. Professor Stoodley continues his research into better understanding and treating patients with syringomyelia and Chiari malformations as there are still many unknown truths regarding these serious neurological disorders.