18-YEAR-OLD Emily discovered just a few years ago that her brain is falling out the back of her skull. At the age of seven she suffered her first headaches, particularly when bouncing on the trampoline in her back garden. By 14, these headaches were so severe that she spent days on end in bed. After a year of almost constant pain, three separate trips to hospital and an unsuccessful decompression surgery on her brain, Emily's dad Michael had had enough of seeing his daughter suffering. After insisting that doctors scan Emily's brain, it was found she had Chiari Malformation type 1 - a rare condition that causes the brain to herniate down the spinal column at the back of Emily's skull. Suddenly, the family "had answers" - but Emily continued to experience the same symptoms and spend extended periods of time laying in bed, as this was the only way she had found to ease the pain. She had to give up playing netball, rarely left the house and has been unable to go to university or start work. As if Emily's situation wasn't difficult enough, she told Truly how she has "lost friends" who thought she was faking the condition. Emily was desperately waiting on a miracle - when she heard about a "pioneering new surgery" after a recent medical breakthrough. Doctors now think that Chiari Malformation is caused by a fibrous cord-like structure within the spinal cord called the filum, which appears to be too tight in people with the condition. A team in Barcelona now offers a surgery to cut the filum, releasing the tugging on the brain and alleviating symptoms almost instantly. But with the surgery being so new and costing £30,000, will Emily choose to go ahead with it? And if she does, will it give her the "new chance at life" she so desperately needs?
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