“My back feels better” — practically music to the ears of Eric and Stacy Dandridge.
Years of pain, months of fund-raising, and weeks of scheduling boiled down to one hour of surgery in Barcelona, Spain, for 10-year-old Acaiyah Dandridge. “Once she was awake, one of the first things she said, completely unprompted, was ‘My back feels better,’” Eric Dandridge said. Shortly after her seventh birthday, Acaiyah was diagnosed with Chiari malformation I — a condition in which brain tissue extends into the spinal canal. It occurs when part of the skull is misshapen or smaller than normal. The skull presses on the brain, and forces it downward.
“She was complaining that when she rode her bike, it hurt her neck and back. We just thought it was because she was tired,” Eric Dandridge said.
But the onset of pain, migraines and overall weakness prompted an initial trip to the family physician. Months later, an orthopedic specialist presented the Chiara diagnosis.
The Dandridges had soon assembled a team of doctors in Houston; a neurosurgeon, a neurologist and an ophthalmologist.
The Dandridges enlisted the help of Help Hope Live — at Helphopelive. org — to raise funds for a trip to Barcelona, where a clinic is established just for such treatment and surgery, which no doctors in the United States will perform.
In the United States, physicians perform intradural surgery. In Barcelona, it’s an extradural surgery. “They go in, they section it, clean it up,” Stacy said. “They straighten it, untwist it, whatever. It’s a 45-minute surgery.”
In February 2022, the Dandridges reached out to physicians at the Institute Chiari de Barcelona with all the imaging, CT scans, MRI results and diagnoses performed on their daughter in Houston.
Enter Help Hope Live, the nonprofit fundraising organization that accumulates donations, tracks expenses, pays directly to the provider and eliminates the need for affected families to have to worry about bills, budgeting and balancing a bank account.
Through fundraisers, media awareness campaigns and enlisting help with HelpHopeLive, the Dandridges were able to raise over $34,000. The basic surgery is $21,500.
The family flew out May 28 for the designed two-week stay, with the one-hour surgery performed on Tuesday.
“We wanted to schedule it for when she was out of school, so she wouldn’t miss a lot of school,” Eric Dandridge said. After a 15-hour flight, they arrived May 29 in Barcelona.
“ We intentionally arrived a few days before our first meeting, for time to adjust ... and Acaiyah wanted to go to the beach, to have a beach day,” he said.
Pre-op day was June 2. The family met with the doctors, receiving a thorough explanation of the entire process and the treatment to follow.
Her mother said some tears fell when Acaiyah left to go to the surgery. But the family, she said, was as excited as they were nervous.
“We’re excited. We know the surgery has been successful for many other patients and families we’ve talked with,” she said. “We were relieved the doctor said the surgery went well. It was nice to know she has some butterfly stitches and bandages, not sutures. “And, she’s already up and walking, but taking it slowly, of course,” Stacy added.
The doctor will return in the morning for an incision check and to replace the covering.
If everything went according to plan, young Acaiyah will have been released from the hospital on Wednesday.
On post-op day 11, there will be another incision check and “if she’s healing properly, we are released to fly home on the 14th,” mom said.
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