Welcome to Team Kat's HA WALK Page
My story begins with spina bifida
I was born on October 9th 1992
I was taken a week early to make sure I survived. I was born hyper flexed and
clubfoot my hips were 2 inches out of socket
After I was bomn I had to undergo a 28 hr microscopic surgery to close my spine
connect as many nerves as possible and install a shunt for my hydrocephalus. I
had tendon Lengthening before I was lyr old and I went through many years of
physical therapy to be able to walk or even bend my knees. My first shunt
revision was at the age of 5, my second revision was at 6yrs and that one took
half of my vision away because the pressure built up behind my eyes on my
optic nerves. My third revision was on September 11th 2001 the planes hitting
the towers were the last thing I saw before surgery.
I had a non programable vp shunt until 2002. I had bladder reconstructive
surgery that year and got an abscess shortly after followed by a shunt revision
due to the area scarring over then I had to have a non programmable va shunt
After that I was good for 11.5 years but in late 2012 and early April 2013 trouble
with the shunt started I had another revision done that month and the rest of the
year was downhill I had several more revisions and even a stage 3 staph
infection which lead to another revision. That year I switched to a programmable
va shunt so instead of every 2 weeks of having issues with my shunt it went up
to 6 months. I was in and out of the hospital for the last 5yrs for shunt revisions
and in 2017 I had complications during surgery. I aspirated into my lungs during
surgery and almost died from it. I have had 17 brain surgeries to treat my
hydrocephalus.
Katerina Butcher
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