Toni Hansen Sever
While Toni or her family have not asked for any help... As our friend we don't want her or her family to worry about anything other than her recovery.
Should your generosity exceed Toni's needs, any excess funds will be used by Toni to establish a charitable fund to assist other victims of this condition.
From a letter Toni wrote to her contacts beginning of July:
On April 28th, while walking down the hall in my home, I collapsed from extreme pressure that built in my head. I did not know it at the time, but the cause was what is known as a "spontaneous cerebrospinal fluid leak." Essentially, I had developed a tear in the layer that protects my spinal column, and began to rapidly leak spinal fluid.
At first the doctors believed that the leak was from a lumbar puncture that they had performed to rule out an aneurysm because the condition often looks the same, but after many weeks and several failed procedures called "blood patches" to try to close the leak, they realized they needed to look further. MRIs performed using different settings discovered that the tear was higher on my spine and most likely located on the front of my spinal column.
The doctors now believe that high pressure, most likely experienced two weeks earlier, weakened the dura and moving created the tear. Something as simple as coughing could have done so, however, once the tissue was weakened. This condition is surprisingly not as rare as it was once thought, but until recently, it was typically misdiagnosed because imaging did not make detection easy. I had 3 MRIs and two CT scans that all missed it.
Toni Hansen
- currently lives in Columbus, Ohio
- wife, mother, trader, coach
Recently diagnosed with CSF leak, Toni needs your help.
