MEMPHIS, Tenn. — A little girl diagnosed with a life-threatening and rare brain condition may now have a better chance at a long life thanks to a doctor in Memphis after traveling from Dominica for brain surgery, and it didn’t cost her family a dime.
A picture showed 12-year-old Ciara Lee smiling as she walked to class on her first day back to school on the island of Dominica after, what doctors say, was a lifesaving journey, taking steps toward a future that nearly did not come.
According to Dr. Paul Klimo, a pediatric, an arteriovenous malformation had ruptured in Ciara’s brain, becoming a tangled collection of blood vessels, disrupting blood flow and oxygen circulation neurosurgeon at Semmes Murphy.
Klimo performed brain surgery on Lee in Feb. after she was flown to Memphis. Lee, a basketball player, passed out after developing a headache, according to Semmes Murphey.
“I said ‘hey she’s got most likely a ruptured AVM that needs to be treated,’ otherwise it’s probably going to rupture again, and she could die from it,” said Dr. Paul Klimo, a pediatric, recalling the conversation he said he had with another man, also a doctor.
The two friends were discussing Ciara, he said. The other doctor was a friend of Ciara’s basketball coach and contacted Klimo to get his thoughts about imaging from a scan done on Ciara’s brain.
Resources were pooled, and Ciara was flown to Memphis for the surgery. A number of organizations funded the trip. Ciara arrived in Memphis in Feb. amid record cold due to a series of winter storms.
The surgery was performed at Le Bonheur Children’s Hospital, which waived operation fees, and Dr. Klimo did the surgery pro bono.
“To me, it was just a no-brainer,” Klimo said. “It means the world to me.”
Klimo said he changed the way he operated to preserve her hairstyle, called “platt.”
What’s more, the surgery fell on Klimo’s birthday, giving the gift of life to both surgeon and patient.
“It means everything to me. That’s why I went into medicine,” Klimo said.
https://www.fox13memphis.com/news/local/life-saving-surgery-performed-memphis-after-girl-flown-caribbean-no-charges-family/J6DMHSJHE5H6TCM43BBQCAQ3TI/
