Sammy:
Sammy loves pink, dolls, movies, swimming and she loves life. Sammy started school this year and enjoys cutting, drawing and making friends.This would not have been possible if she had not had life-saving Neurosurgery.
Born with Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus, Sammy is a paraplegic with a shunt draining the fluid from the brain. Without surgery she would not have had the opportunity to go to school or make plans for a childhood. But to make life even more difficult she also had an additional complication – an Arnold Chiari malformation which had caused a cyst, making her lose the use of her arms and was affecting both her breathing and her eating so she couldn’t take in food and couldn’t speak. Life was looking pretty grim.
Neurosurgery once again saved her life and retained her independence, giving her back the ability to speak, while retaining the use of her arms and stabilising her breathing and nutritional intake.
Now, two years on, she is full of energy, you can’t stop her talking and she is finally taking in food. Sammy is enjoying being a five-year-old.
