Conquer the Appalachian Trail with Chiari

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A nonprofit fundraiser supporting

Conquer Chiari
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Hey there! I am thru hiking the Appalachian Trail while raising awareness for Chiari Malformation :)

$3,024

raised by 19 people

$4,000 goal

Overwhelmed with Kindness

Update posted 2 years ago

I am so overwhelmed with the generosity and the kindness of the people who have donated to my cause. I have not already met but succeeded my goal of $2,190 and I have now raised the bar! Still out here raising awareness 💜💜

Hello! I am Julie :)

I am thru hiking the Appalachian Trail this summer as well as joining forces with Conquer Chiari to raise awareness and funds for Chiari Malformation. By hiking 2,190 miles my hope is to raise awareness and funds on my journey in hopes that we can one day find a cure. Conquer Chiari is the largest private funder for research on the condition and I could not be anymore excited to work with the organiztion.

Here is a little bit about me!

I was diagnosed with Scoliosis at 14 and Chiari Malformation along with Syringomyelia at 20. Scoliosis is when your spine curves abnormally laterally. Chiari is a neurological disorder where the bottom part of the brain, the cerebellum, descends out of the skull and crowds the spinal cord, putting pressure on both the brain and spine and causing many symptoms. Syringomyelia is where a fluid filled cyst develops inside of your spine. There are many symptoms that come along with these diagnoses.

Some of the symptoms that I have are unsteady gait, chronic hip pain, I cannot feel pain or temperature in the majority of the right side of my torso, balance and coordination issues, brain fog, headaches, numbness, muscle weakness, my body has a very hard time regulating temperatures so I sweat all the time, and the list goes on and on. 

My journey has been a very long one. Instead of getting corrective surgery on my spine due to Scoliosis, I worked my core muscles by riding horses and that straightened my spine. In 2017 I had decompression surgery to help treat Chiari Malformation and Syringomyelia. Part of my skull and first vertebrae were removed so that my brain had more room. Surgery did not help me at all symptom wise, but it did stop the cyst in my spine from growing any larger. Surgery is a way to treat Chiari, but there is no cure as it is a progressive condition. 

With all of that being said, I do not let any of my conditions define who I am. I chose to conquer them and live the life I am meant to have. I have always been adventurous at heart, and that is why I am choosing to thru hike the Appalachian Trail. Connecting with nature has helped me more than any one person has. I want nothing more than to show people who have these conditions that they do not have to let it define them. You are strong, you are beautiful, and you are so much more capable than you think you are. 

Feel free to join me on my journey as I will be posting on Instagram and Facebook periodically with the good, the bad, and the ugly!


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Conquer Chiari

Organized By Julie Jandeska

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