CALGARY – Next month Kristina Waldmann will travel with her mother to Houston, Texas. It’s a trip, she hopes, will change her life.
“Since my early 20s I’ve been experiencing chronic migraines,” the 27-year-old explained. “But about three years ago, something changed.”
Now, Waldmann says she experiences severe pain, nausea, dizziness and problems seeing and hearing. Her symptoms are so severe she had to quit working and going to school.
“The dizziness and the nausea prevent me from doing anything that’s really active and the cognitive problems prevent me from even reading a novel.”
An MRI revealed Waldmann was suffering from a cystic tumour on the pineal gland of her brain. It’s a rare condition that has also been surrounded by controversy in Alberta. Many specialists in the province don’t believe these tumours cause symptoms, but for at least three other Alberta patients, removing the tumour has made their symptoms disappear.
Eleven-year-old Mikayla Curran of Wetaskawin had her cystic tumour removed in Houston last July.
“Before I was really hurting and I couldn’t see and I couldn’t go to school,” she said. “Now I’m feeling really, really good and everything has gone away.”
Surgery also helped Dylan Nielsen of Airdrie in 2009 and Shane Wambolt of Fort MacMurray in 2010. Although Alberta Health paid for Nielsen’s surgery, funding for Curran and Wambolt was denied.
A spokesperson with Alberta Health says in most cases this surgery is considered elective.
“With pineal cysts, there are specific standards of care that doctors follow when determining whether surgery is medically necessary,” said Tim Wilson. “These standards require there to be clear medical evidence that the cyst is causing a patient serious health issues because of the high risks associated with the procedure. Headaches or psychological symptoms are not considered indications for surgery.”
But Waldmann disagrees, saying right now she has very low quality of life. Surgery may cost her family tens of thousands of dollars, but she thinks it’s a better price to pay than living with these symptoms any longer.
Waldmann’s friends and family are working to help raise money to pay for her surgery. You can help by visiting www.letshelpkristina.com.
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