A HAMPSHIRE woman is fundraising to undergo potentially life-saving surgery.
Sara Pollard-Dambach, from Swanmore, was diagnosed with Functional Neurological Disorder (FND) after doctors discovered a calcified cystic tumour in her brain.
Mrs Pollard-Dambach, who previously ran the Roebuck pub near Wickham, told the Chronicle that doctors only discovered the tumour after she reported having persistent migraines, with issues getting worse after she gave birth to her latest child.
She underwent several brain scans, with doctors diagnosing her with having FND, a condition where the brain has problems receiving and sending information.
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The mum of three said: “The doctor explained that it’s basically where someone pulls out a plug in the back of your neck, and your mind doesn’t quite know how to power its system – it’s like having a faulty plug.
“He said that this is why I kept getting headaches, why I keep getting intermittent loss of the use of my limbs, this is why my face is paralysed, this is why everything is happening.”
However, during the scans, doctors found an 8mm tumour in Mrs Pollard-Dambach’s brain, which they believe might have been there for 24 years. The tumour is slowly getting bigger, with it measuring just under 14mm in November.
Mrs Pollard-Dambach said: “My team has stated that I’m at the point where it is the end. I’m in a place where I can’t be a mother to my children, I can’t be a wife to my husband. I can’t work anymore, I have to use a wheelchair outside of the house.
“I have tics and tremors just by lifting my head up and moving it around. I can’t reach the top shelf of the cupboard anymore without blacking out.”
Mrs Pollard-Dambach is hoping to have the tumour removed. However, surgery is unavailable on the NHS, so she has turned to celebrity surgeon Professor Charlie Tao, who has offered to perform the surgery in the UK for free if she can raise the money needed for him to travel to England and find a neurosurgeon who can “invite” Professor Tao to perform the surgery.
Mrs Pollard-Dambach said: “There are so many questions over my healthcare that I decided that, if Charlie Tao can help me, then it would be a no-brainer for me to speak to him and ask for help.
“What Charlie loves to do is teach his practice to other surgeons, so they can help other patients. So he has offered to waive his medical fee and come to the UK to do my operation for free if I can afford to cover his accommodation and flight. I thought that was incredibly kind, as I don’t have the money to afford a surgery like this, or to go to America to have it.”
She continued: “All I need to do is find a surgeon to be his right-hand man and gather a team in a theatre to all Tao to perform this surgery and give me my life back.”
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Mrs Pollard-Dambach has started a fundraiser with her friend in the hopes of raising the money needed to get Professor Tao to the UK for the surgery. Money raised from the GoFundMe will also go towards starting a charity in Mrs Pollard-Dambach’s name to help other patients with pineal gland cysts and tumours causing debilitating symptoms.
To donate to the fundraiser, visit gofundme.com/f/saras-hope-treatment-for-pineal-cystic-tumour.
Anyone who might know a neurosurgeon willing to help her cause is asked to contact Mrs Pollard-Dambach by emailing sara.dambach@outlook.com.
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