Casey Lewis is 35 and a mother of two gorgeous children, Macayla, 12, and Cobi, 9, but her life has become a nightmare as she fights chiari malformation, a structural defect of the skull which allows brain tissue to extend into the spinal canal. In a bid to get her life back she has begun a Go Fund Me Page.

Here’s why. Casey lives in constant pain and suffers from migraines, nausea, numbness and tingling, shoulder and neck spasms and bowel dysfunction. And that’s just part of it.

“Although the pain was debilitating before, I was able to have a certain quality of life. I was able to work fulltime and still work at home.”

You may have seen Casey over the years at Nutmeg, Pomegranate, The Acorn Cafe and Batesy’s Bakery.

But for now that all seems like a long time ago.

She’s had surgery in the past and a cervical and lumbar fusion is the latest battle in her own private war. “I’m praying it will help me return to a normal life, where I have enough energy to run my household and convey my kids to and from soccer and netball.

And just to be a normal mum. I’d love to be physically capable of working at least part time.

Even the simple things we take for granted like going swimming with the kids, to not be in so much pain at the end of each day that I cry while I make dinner and count down the minutes until my kids go to bed so they don’t have to see me in pain.”

Her gravest fear is that without treatment the condition but spinal and nerve degeneration will leave her in a wheelchair.

The surgery and hospital stay however will costs more than $27,000. “My surgeon has dropped his fee however the Macquarie University Hospital will not. This has left me with only a week to raise over 27000 dollars for the surgery.”

“I hesitated over whether it was right or ethical to start a Go Fund Me Page,” she said. In the end her desire to become a “normal mum” again for her children overcame her concerns.” If you would like to help Casey go to https://www.gofundme.com/6c1qs60 (Conquering Chiari For My Family).