Surgery Puts a Cow Heart in Teen Girl’s Brain

- Serenity Clegg-LaPorte, Reporter

After sitting for a couple of long minutes in the bright lights, a girl heard a thump behind her. One of her classmates had fainted on the stands.

As the crowd of kids surrounded her, the teacher at the time broke through as the girl slowly came to consciousness. For the rest of the practice, she was sent home for her own safety.

This was after she had a cow heart put into her brain after being diagnosed with Chiari Malformation (type 1).

“When I started passing out, it was a hot mess,” Anna Sheese said. “I started falling behind in school, I couldn’t do every-day tasks–I couldn’t even carry a plate because if I passed out it would break.”

Chiari Malformation

~According to the Mayo Clinic, mainly~ * Type 1:

Chiari Malformation is considered hereditary; Anna had gotten it from her mom. She had the surgery in 2010, where they put a clay mesh in her neck to stop the spine from growing back into the brain.

* Cerebellum is deformed, putting pressure on the spinal canal and brain

* Hereditary

* There are 4 types, with different problems

* General affects:

- HEADACHES

- DYSPHAGIA (difficulty swallowing)

- HYDROCEPHALUS (too much fluid in the brain)

- SPINA BIFIDA (Spine isn’t fully developed or exposed)

- SYRINGOMYLEIA (cysts forming on the spine)

“My mom helped me a lot [in the process],” Sheese said.

- TETHERED CORD SYNDROM (Spine clicks w/spinal cord, lengthening it; causing lower back complications.)

- FAINTING

Chiari Malformation (type 1) is a physical disability where the cerebellum is too small or deformed, which puts pressure on the entire brain, as well as displacing the lower part of the cerebellum (tonsils) on top of the spinal canal (according to the Mayo Clinic). While type 1 is the most common out of the three types, around 1 in 1,000 have it.

* Note: these things will not happen to everybody.

The process to get diagnosed took around 3-4 months. This eventually led to a surgery, but even afterwards Anna was to have problems. During the diagnosis process, Anna had to tell quite a bit of people about the problem, which surprised a sum of people.

“I never had [seen this sort of thing] before,” said Keri Hess, Anna’s choir teacher.“To be honest, I actually thought, ‘Is this a real thing or not,’ and then ‘Yes, it is a real thing.’”

Anna had started fainting in her freshman year. This caused confusion and chaos.

Despite this, it took awhile to get diagnosed. The first problem was getting insurance coverage, which took around a month for them to officially realize she needed the MRI scan to check her brain.

The time it takes to get an appointment for the MRI varies where you go, and the results take about 5-6 days to get to the patient. Afterwards, Anna got paired with a neurologist, which took about two weeks. She was then sent to a neurosurgeon; they focused more on the actual surgery.

The pairing for that took another week. Then, finally, she was officially diagnosed.

However, there was a drawback.

“[I was] Really overwhelmed,” Sheese said. “I found out that I was going to live with it forever.”

Even so, surgery could make the symptoms more manageable. There are multiple types of ways surgeries are performed. While her mom got a clay mesh, Anna got a cow heart.

“I love people’s reactions to that,” Sheese said. “Yes, I’m part cow now.”

While she was put to sleep for the surgery, however, her brain had other plans than a peaceful time.

“I remember, I didn’t wake up at all, but I was stuck in a nightmare,” Sheese said. “I kept dying until finally the anesthetist woke me up. I don’t know if that was just the fear of getting my brain cut out or what.”

That was never answered. In the meantime, after the surgery, she was stuck in bed for two weeks, and still couldn’t lift a plate.

“I could barely move my neck because it hurt so bad,” Sheese said. “I hated it.”

Although, there was this part of her that was relieved. A weight had been lifted off her shoulders.

“It was great,” Sheese said. “I felt free again.”

Still, for around four years, Anna won’t be able to use her neck in extreme ways at all. This is due to the fact of her brain being maneuvered a certain way, which could still result in fainting.

“I was sad [because] I can’t ride any hardcore roller-coasters,”

Sheese said. “I can’t dive for a while (and I love diving), and every-time I jerk my neck, I pass out. So that sucks.”

All that can be done now is to accommodate the symptoms when needed, as well as recognize triggers. In choir, she still sings well when in a proper position, but they still need to be weary.

“It shouldn’t bother her [to sing] at all. But, weird things happen,” Hess said. “Maybe she just moves her arm weird so we kind of got to watch with choreography and stuff like that.”

Anna, through all of this, had to learn the hard way of dealing with a physical disability. She also has a message to share to those who experience something similar.

“If you’re struggling with something physical, don’t let it bring you down,” Sheese said. “It’s just speed learning: ‘I’m special in my own way, and I got to live with it, and I’ll learn how to live with it and still have fun.’”