Claudia Martinez had wanted to be a doctor since she was a small child.
Her aspirations looked to be out of reach when, as a University of Houston student, she was given a heartbreaking blow. It began when she started having headaches and losing consciousness. She was eventually diagnosed with Chiari Malformation, a devastating illness characterized by brain matter spreading into the spinal cord. It can induce paralysis in certain circumstances.
When she received her diagnosis, she was referred to a neurosurgeon, Martinez explained. He said she required brain surgery as soon as possible. Otherwise, she’d be immobilized from the neck down. So, within a week, she was having her first brain surgery.
One can only fathom the mental strength required to remain optimistic in the face of such a diagnosis. Martinez, on the other hand, had an excess of it. She completed her undergraduate studies before enrolling at UTHealth McGovern Medical School.
She has undergone six major brain surgeries since she was originally diagnosed, she explained.
She imagined she’d just need one operation. She knew her life would be altered, but she expected to get the operation and then attend medical school. And that would be the conclusion of her tale. However the reality has been just the contrary.
Her most recent operation, in February 2017, was the most terrifying of them all. Martinez suffered a stroke, rendering her unable to function below the neck.
She had to retrain how to do everything, Martinez explained. Her mother had to bathe and clothe her.
Martinez, on the other hand, never gave up chasing the one thing she had always desired to accomplish. She spent several months in rehabilitation at TIRR Memorial Hermann Rehab Hospital, learning to walk again with the help of an Exoskeleton. This amazing young lady is in her final year at UTHealth and will graduate next year!
More on Martinez’s tale may be seen in the video below.
What a wonderful young lady. Martinez may be an inspiration to all of us!
