Julia Ashtyn Lazaro is a beautiful, happy 17-year-old. On the outside she’s the definition of healthy.
“Yeah, it’s tearing up the inside of my body, not the outside,” says Julia Lazaro.
Julia had dreams of becoming a professional dancer. As a child she practiced nearly five hours six days a week. Most recently she was a student at NOCCA.
Julia’s mother Josette Lazaro recalls, “I can still see her coming down the stairs and I said how are you feeling today, and she said I just have so much pressure in my head, and I knew at that moment. I knew my, mom instincts, that something is not right.”
It was while dancing last October that Julia got a terrible headache and blurred vision. The symptoms would not go away, and a month later she was diagnosed with Chiari Malformation.
“Every day is different for me though. Some days I will just have the pressure, and some days I will have the pressure a headache, neck pain. Some days I’m in bed all day,” says Julia Lazaro.
Chiari Malformation is a neurological disorder where part of the brain herniates out of the skull sometimes crowding the spinal cord. It is not rare. Statistics show it affects about 1 in 1,000 people, and most living with Chiari don’t even know they have it because they don’t have symptoms.
When Julia was diagnosed last November she had to quit dancing, giving up her passion, but not her love for life.
“It still hasn’t even hit me that I’m sick. I mean, I suffer through all of the symptoms every day, but I don’t like to go through life thinking that I’m sick, and I’m not going to let people know that I’m sick,” explains Julia, “Its life. You get a lot of struggles. You have a lot of ups and downs, but you have to keep moving on!”
“She is full of life. Even on a bad day she’s full of life, and that’s what’s getting her through her illness right now,” says Josette Lazaro.
Chiari has no cure, yet in October Julia will have brain surgery in Michigan to hopefully alleviate some of the pressure she’s feeling, and while her family is praying all goes well their focus now is on a nation wide walk happening Saturday, September 20th in more than 40 states including one right here on Louisiana’s North Shore.
The walk is free, but of course donations are welcome. To find out more about the Conquer Chiari Walk Across America click here. To register to walk click here. To visit the Conquer Chiari Walk Across America Facebook page click here.
The walk takes place in Covington at the Covington Trailhead at 419 N. New Hampshire Street. Registration starts at 7:30AM. The walk starts at 8:30AM.
To help Julia cover medical expenses you can donate to her Go Fund Me account.
To learn more about and connect with those living with Chiari Malformation in Louisiana click here.