DiaDiCristino

I was diagnosed with an arachnoid cyst of the posterior fossa in 2002. It was 5x9x7cm and damaged my occipital lobes permanently. It also caused me to have hydrocephalus which caused me to have a shunt. All in all I had around 25 surgeries for this problem, most of them were in one year and everything left me exhausted. I contracted bacterial meningitis and almost died. During my 4th brain surgery which was an emergency surgery to relieve severe hydrocephalus and pressure on my brain--I did die. They brought me back, and because of that I have spent every single day since dedicating my life to helping other arachnoid cyst patients.

My arachnoid cyst has turned my life upside down. It always seemed whenever I would get used to the symptoms I was having and adjusted my life accordingly something else would happen. In 2007 I was a passenger in a car accident, and the car was hit from behind making my seat snap and fly backwards and then slam into the back of my head where a large piece of my occipital bone had been previously removed during my craniotomy, so there was nothing there to protect my brain from the impact of the accident. I spent the next 2 years in a wheelchair due to severe spasticity brought on by the accident. I worked hard, had a lot of physical therapy and I am happy to say I now walk with a cane! My point is, there are going to be times when you want to give up no matter what your chronic illness is. There doesn't always seem to be a light at the end of a tunnel, but there is! Sometimes you have to keep on working through the darkness to find it.

I am the Chairman for the Arachnoid Cyst Awareness Organization http://arachnoidcyst1.com (founded in 2003), and we are now based in the USA, UK and Australia. Last November we had our first major conference and USA walk events held in Philadelphia with world renowned neurosurgeon Dr. Sutton as our speaker. It was an amazing day, and this year our conference and USA walk events will be in Sundance, Utah. More info at http://www.acafundraising.com . Last April we had our ACA UK Walk event which was a beautiful day.