A Yorkshire teenager has just months to try and save her life due to a rare brain condition that could internally decapitate her at any moment.
17-year-old Allesha Barnfield from Highfields in Doncaster was diagnosed with multiple conditions including chiari malformation after first developing symptoms back in 2019.
But now she is in a race against time with just months to save money to fund vital surgery.
For more Doncaster news, click here.
The condition, which causes ligaments in the spine to be tense and tighter than usual, sees the brain tissue of its victims pulled into their spinal cord and can eventually lead to paralysis, or internal decapitation when these spinal ligaments rupture.
But she cannot afford the thousands of pounds she says she urgently needs for an operation to relieve her symptoms.
She has until May to fund the surgery, before the price she has been quoted expires and the price goes up once again.
Allesha said: “Before this, it was my absolute dream to study law in university, but now, it’s to just be alive.”
She continued that she is putting “everything into fighting for this surgery” because “without it I can’t continue to live, it is no way of living.”
The teenager has previously had to quit school and her job because of the severe symptoms she experiences daily, which include which constant headaches, back pain, dizziness, fatigue, memory loss, breathing problems, sensitivity to light and loss of movement.
They are caused by her conditions which affect her skull, spine, and brain, according to Allesha.
She explained: “My skull is really misshapen and abnormally small, which makes it really difficult for my brain, and it pushes pressure downwards onto my skull, which causes a lot of symptoms.”
Allesha says that it felt like a “walking death sentence” when she was told, but that she has been given a new sense of hope after learning she could be helped by a specialist abroad.
(Image: Collect)
Now, she is desperate to raise the €23,000 upfront cost of surgery, as well as money to pay for accommodation while she recovers in Barcelona, where the institute is based.
Writing on her Go Fund Me page, the teenager said she “cannot fight as hard” as she has to be unable to have the surgery because of financial reasons.
She added: “I’ve created this in hopes that just maybe I could be lucky enough to have enough money to pay for this surgery.”
Allesha is hopeful she can find the money before May, which is when the price she was quoted expires and after which the cost may rise further.
The teenager continued that it would mean “the absolute world” to have the surgery, to not be “waking up every day knowing I’m worse and worse, but to wake up knowing that I’m free.”
And she hopes that she may one day be able to fulfil her dream of studying law at university.
Allesha’s fundraising page can be found here.
To get the latest email updates from Yorkshire Live, click here .