Amy's Surgery

Monday, June 17, 2013

Amy Brunning had brain surgery in July 2011 with Dr. Dan Heffez at the Chiari Center in Milwaukee, WI. She had to go all the way to Wisconsin because no one here knew much about Chiari Malformation. Every time she was referred to a Neurologist or Neurosurgeon she always received the same answer. No one had a clue how to help her. It’s been almost 2 years since her surgery and she’s ecstatic to say that she doesn’t have those problems anymore. Now she has a condition called Tethered Cord Syndrome. She is in desperate need of  the release surgery. Amy is having seizures and small strokes. She has difficulty walking at times. she looses her memory for short periods of time. This is a degenerative condition. The only treatment is surgery. However, again, no one seems to know what they are dealing with. This is the reason she is trying to get back to Wisconsin. 
She is married with two children. Her husband works on a tugboat so he is only with her for about 10 days a month. She has no family here either. She has stated that it is extremely difficult to be a mother of two and hold down a steady job and keep some bit of normalcy to her children’s lives when she is unable to function normally.
She is currently not supposed to be driving at all because she can have a seizure or stroke at any moment. When home she spend a majority of her time in bed because she is usually in so much pain. Amy does continue to work because she has no other choice. Her  husband’s work on the tugboat is new employment so he is not making much at this time. When he advances they will be in much better financial shape. But the longer she waits to get this procedure done the more permanent damage there will be.
The hospital in Wisconsin is:
Columbia St. Mary’s Hospital Milwaukee
Orthopedic & Neuroscience Institute.
2301 N. Lake Dr. Room 1453
Milwaukee, WI 53211

I've known Amy for 4 years, she is a dear friend and I love her as though she were my own daughter. I am working to get a raffle drawing done and I plan to use my YouTube account to show the prize and send the raffle numbers through Facebook for whomever buys a ticket through the donation button on my blog.



1 comment:

  1. Leave a contact number or email address so that I can send an image of the ticket to you.

    ReplyDelete