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Woman Survives Six Major Brain Surgeries While Pursuing Dream To Become A Doctor

Adventure Of Student Doctor, Survivor Of Six Major Brain Surgeries

Claudia Martinez, a student doctor, back in 2012, was fulfilling her dreams of becoming a doctor someday, heard catastrophic news prompted by neuro surgeon advising Claudia to undergo brain surgery as soon as possible.

Without these six major brain surgeries, Claudia would become paralyzed from the neck down.

Claudia had been experiencing the symptoms of Chiari Malformation which gave Claudia severe headaches, loss of feeling in her limbs, as well as other debilitating symptoms. Chiari Malformation is a structural problem in the base of the human skull and in the cerebrum that controls the balance. Chiari Malformation is a debilitating condition which prompts the brain tissue to spilled into the spinal cord, a scenario which can eventually end up in paralysis.

Claudia’s unbeatable mind over matter principle gave her the strength to cope with this malformation and never stopped her dreams of becoming a doctor someday.

Claudia was diagnosed with Chiari Malformation at age of 21, at the time Claudia was an undergraduate student at University of Houston.

“When I got my diagnosis, I was sent to a neurosurgeon. He told me that I needed brain surgery as soon as possible. If not, I was going to be paralyzed from the neck down. And so within a week, I was undergoing my first brain surgery,” Claudia stated to the media. Despite the brain surgery she’s currently undergoing, Claudia still manages to graduate with a 4.0 GPA and pursued her medical doctor dreams at UTHealth McGovern Medical School. However, she still needs to undergo fire more major brain surgeries at that time.

She even became paralyzed from neck down during her 2017 brain experimental surgery but doctors still persisted for her to take the sixth major brain surgery for that was her only hope of surviving. The sixth experimental brain surgery had Claudia re-learn how to walk, move her limbs, eat and dress for herself and left her with a partially paralyzed stomach needing a feeding tube for three years.

Fast forward to March, Claudia further stated, “The surgery was a great success and I have been able to maintain and gain weight eating orally since then while weaning off the feeding tube. I am hoping to get my feeding tube removed in the next couple of months, but it has to stay in for now.”

On May 2020, she will be called Dr. Claudia Martinez. Congratulations Claudia!

Mind Over Matter Photos of Soon To-Be Dr. Claudia Martinez