September is Chiari Awareness month.  Each day, I am going to share one person’s journey…in their own words.  Chiari malformation is a condition where your brain herniates below the base of your skull, compressing the brain stem and spine.  The symptoms are unbearable, at best, and there is no cure…

Meet Meg...

Meg 2
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As a little girl I always dreamed what my life was going to be, who I would become, what I would do for work, what my kids would look like. The one thing I never dreamed of, Chiari! On November 2nd 2011, My dreams were put on hold, I had suffered my first stroke, yep that’s right a stroke and they were unsure why. At the time I was a 27 year old single mother with two small kids under 5 at home, and there I laid in a hospital bed half my body not able to move, my speech was slurred, and I was in the most pain I had ever felt, even more then pushing two 9lbs babies out.  Thats when the inner warrior awoke and fighting for myself was my only option fighting to keep going on, fighting for my health care, fighting for people to understand, fighting my inner demons, fighting to be the best mom, wife, friend, daughter, sister, aunt, and just fighting to make it thru the day. You see, Maine's health care doesn’t really know what Chiari is or what to really do for it. Even saying and spelling it proves to be a huge hurdle for the good ol Maine docs. Thank God for web md where they can learn how to cure my skull from giving birth to my brain, how to come to the conclusion that chiari isn’t painful, that it’s just ‘all in my head’.....if my brain was all in my head, I wouldn't need them.

meg 3
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I had 2 choices: let life pass me by or stand up and kick some chiari ass. So here I am 6 years later, still fighting. The past 6 years have taught me that there is nothing life can throw at me that I won’t demolish.  Chiari has some good, it brought some of the most beautiful souls into my life. The people that have become a part of my family, they breathe life and strength into me everyday. They comfort me on my bad days and make me laugh. I feel we keep each other somewhat sane. My kids and my amazing fiancé push me to be a better me, a stronger me, a happier me. They show me that even though I may miss huge moments, that the moments that matter most are the moments we get to spend together. Of course I wish I wasn't sick, wasn't curled up feeling like someone just beat me with a rock filled bat over and over, I wish I was full of energy, full of life, I wish my sickness hadn't drove family and friends away from me, i wish I could be there for my kids every second of every day. But this is who I am, this is my life and Im thankful for every second of it everyday, well most days...... today I am lucky to say that I finally got in with a chiari specialist and am still fighting, even though there is NO CURE, my life will always be a battle, but definitely a battle worth winning.

Meg
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