Imagine being seized by pain after laughing, sneezing, and even talking. Imagine having to avoid funny people, loud places, and singing in the car.

For Christie Griffith, this has become reality after being diagnosed with Chiari malformation, a birth defect that affects 1 in 1000 individuals. Her symptoms rapidly progressed after sustaining a concussion while snowboarding in early 2021.

Today’s we step into Christie's world of living with Chiari malformation. We swim through events of the past year and arrive at the apogee of her journey, decompression surgery that was just a few weeks away at the time of this recording.

This conversation is about bringing awareness to chiari malformations and what it’s like to live with the condition. It features an inspiring look into how Christi has managed to balance her debilitating symptoms with her full-time job and, perhaps most importantly, being there for her family and her 9-year-old daughter.

Christie is not one to come front and center, but she is on a mission to raise awareness and build a community of people who understand the realities of living with a chiari malformation.

Christie's Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/christie_with_chiari/?hl=en

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