Help Cami-Down syndrome with medical condition

Hi friends! My name is Pamela and the beautiful, fun and full of love 15-year-old girl in the picture is CAMILA, my cousin with an extra special chromosome.

Cami was born with Down Syndrome. At 7 months old, she had a heart surgery...this girl has always been a fighter! Everyday since she came into this world, she hasn't stop smiling, playing, and chatting. She grew to be the best big sister to her little brother Ruben..and has embraced this life which she has lived at her fullest with the unconditional love of her parents, Ruben y Zulma.

But today, Cami needs your help! In May 2023, she stopped walking properly, she started tripping all the time, loosing her balance and now she is loosing mobility in her legs and arms on top of having migraines and dizziness. That prompted her parents to take her to the doctor, and after some studies they found out that she has Basilar invagination (BI).

The doctors explained that this is a condition in which the top of the spine pushes into the base of the skull, 1st and second vertebra. This causes pinching and pressing on the brain stem, the thick bundle of nerves that connects the brain to the spinal cord.

She needs two surgeries urgently. In the 1st surgery, the doctor will have to go through her mouth to get to her column and remove the vertebra that's pressing the spinal cord. Now, without the vertebra that was pressing the skull, the skull will be unstable so then she'll need a second surgery so they can support her spinal column with surgical screws.

Neck injuries in children with basilar invagination are more likely to be severe or fatal, and as she is already loosing balance and mobility, she is in high risk of of damaging her spinal cord permanently with quadriplegia (loss of mobility from the neck down) being one of the worst case scenarios or even death.

She is fifteen and wants to keep on living! Being with her family, going to school, having a good quality of life... doing all the things a young kid wishes to do.

Cami lives with her family in Mexico (Mérida) and the surgeries are very expensive, she doesn't have any insurance and also has to travel to Mexico City to do these two procedures.

We thank you for reading Cami's story and we hope you can HELP her, by donating and sharing. Cami is a bright light that we hope keeps on shining for year, as many as we can <3

*IMPORTANT: The amount you donate will be in dollars. Thank you so much!

*ATENCIÓN: Las donaciones son en dólares. Muchas gracias!

(For Spanish, para lee abajo)

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Hola a todos! Nuestra hermosa, divertida y llena de luz, Camila, necesita tu ayuda.

Cami nació con Síndrome de Down. A los 7 meses de edad, la operaron del corazón, y a pesar de ser una cirugía complicada, nuestra Cami luchó y se recuperó.

En Mayo 2023, Cami fue diagnosticada con invaginación basilar, una condición donde la primer y segunda vértebra están estrangulando su médula espinal.

Ella necesita dos cirugías, la primera es una cirugía complicada donde tienen que llegar por la boca a su columna y quitar la vértebra que está estrangulando la médula espinal, para poder liberarla. Después tendrán que intervenir nuevamente para poder sujetar su columna con tornillos quirúrgicos.

Si no es operada pronto, al no tener estabilidad y seguir perdiendo movilidad, corre un gran riesgo de que su médula espinal se cercene y con esto pierda toda movilidad del cuello para abajo, es decir cuadriplejia, sin contar todas las complicaciones que esto traería e incluso la muerte.

Cami y su familia viven en Mérida, Yucatán (México) y las cirugías son mus costosas y no cuentan con seguro de gastos médicos, y también tendrán que trasladarse a la Ciudad de México para realizarlas.

Esperamos podamos recibir tu ayuda haciendo una donación y compartiendo su historia. Camila siempre ha tenido muchas ganas de vivir, ha superado todos los obstáculos puestos en su camino y siempre con la gran dulce sonrisa que la caracteriza. Es alguien muy especial y le queda mucho por dar <3

*ATENCIÓN: Las donaciones son en dólares. Muchas gracias!