Tonight I’m taking you into the life of 6 year old Elyse Clough who’s fighting an incurable brain condition.

Behind Elyse’s smile and long hair are stitches and scars from six brain surgeries. But it doesn’t stop her from being like every other little girl. She loves playing with her big brother Nathan. But some days she can’t play, because she’s sick and her shunt has failed…sending her to get emergency brain surgery.

Her family, along with others, created an organization called REaCH–to research, educate and cure hydrocephalus. This August, the family heads to Washington, D.C to gain support in Congress.

“We try to make money, raise awareness, have a support system for people that have children with Hydrocephalus, we have adults in the group that have Hydrocephalus so it’s been a really good outlet for us to be able to kind of streamline something that’s really bad and make it into something positive and something that has helped a lot of other people,” Kim Clough said.

Tonight at 10 on WFXv and 11 here on WUTR the Clough family shares their in-depth story on Hydrocephalus and Elyse shares her excitement for being a national ambassador.

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TOWN OF VERNON — The battle against the brain condition hydrocephalus has found a champion in six-year-old Westmoreland elementary school student Elyse Clough.

Like her namesake (Clough is based on an old Irish word, an Chloch, which means ‘the stone’), Elyse has been a rock for her family through her efforts to live a full life despite her disability.

Her bravery, and her parents’ commitment to help her and others overcome legal and medical barriers to fighting the condition, have led to her being named National Ambassador of Hydrocephalus Awareness for 2016 by the Pediatric Hydrocephalus Foundation (PHF).

“We had formed the group, REaCH, (Research, Educate, and Cure Hydrocephalus) to provide support for those suffering from hydrocephalus and their families and had been in contact with PHF,” Elyse’s mother, Kim, said. “They knew about us and thought Elyse was a good match.”

Later this year Elyse will make a number of appearances on social media and will speak before the U.S. Congress and House of Representatives in Washington, DC on August 19.

Elyse will join her parents and 23 other members of REaCH. Her counterpart, Tyler Side, 11, of Washington State, whom PHF has chosen to represent boys battling hydrocephalus, will join her there. They will stand before the country’s legislative branch to help advocate for continued education and research for her condition.

“It’s been a big deal to her to be chosen,” Kim Clough said.

Her work will continue into September, which PHF has designated as National hydrocephalus Awareness Month for the eighth year.

PHF, which has chapters in 30 states, provides supports to families and also advocates with the medical and legal communities to help find a cure. Since 2010 they have awarded $375,000 in grants and donations towards research and education on the condition.

Hydrocephalus (a combination of the Greek words hydro, or ‘water,’ and kephalos, or ‘head’) is a condition in which an abnormal amount of cerebrospinal fluid accumulates in the brain’s ventricles. The excess fluid causes swelling on the brain.

The ventricles are inter-connected spaces in the brain that produce cerebrospinal fluid; the fluid cushions the brain, helps prevent infection and eases blood flow in the brain.

“The problem is that the fluid will not drain, and there is increased swelling in the brain and other issues,” Elyse’s father, Tom, said.

Hydrocephalus has over 180 different causes. They include birth defects, traumatic brain injury, infection, and overproduction or under absorption of brain fluid. Elyse’s began when she was born premature, at 24 weeks.

“She can be fine one minute and then start having a seizure, and she’s in an ambulance,” Kim Clough said. “Life can change in a minute.”

Along with the risk of seizure, Elyse takes medication for her underdeveloped lungs (caused by her premature birth) and undergoes physical therapy, occupational therapy and speech therapy. She has trouble feeding herself anything besides finger foods. And she’s endured six shunt operations.

Hydrocephalus has no known cure, and the only universally reliable treatment is a shunt implant. (Endoscopic third ventriculostomy, a shunt-free procedure where an incision at the bottom of enlarged ventricles allows fluid to drain only works in two-thirds of patients). A shunt is a soft silicone implant placed in the ventricle, then tunneled under the skin to the abdomen where excess fluid is drained and re-absorbed into the body.

The relief provided by shunts is compromised by their frequent failure rate. Children have a shunt failure rate between 25 and 40 percent. Replacing a shunt is a complicated and potentially dangerous process.

“Every time Elyse, or anyone, has a shunt replaced they require a battery of tests,” Tom Clough said. “They include a CTE scan and several x-rays. Elyse is forced to absorb more radiation than she should have to.”

CTE stands for chronic traumatic encephalopathy, the brain condition recently brought into national attention because of its prevalence among former professional football players.

Elyse is also beginning to deal with the emotional impact of her condition.

“She is becoming more aware of what is happening with her, and she gets nervous sometimes,” Tom Clough said.

Elyse’s state of mind is helped by the presence of her eight-year-old brother, Nathan, who proudly wears a PHF pin on his backpack.

“I’m a sound sleeper, and I missed the ambulance the last time Elyse had a shunt put in (on Feb. 10),” he said. “I stayed with my grandmother the next day, and after I went to school I kept wanting to leave school and check on my sister.”

Nathan’s constant interaction with Elyse has helped her improve her daily living skills.

“She’s very reliant on her brother,” Kim Clough said.

Kim and Tom have joined Elyse in her fight. They formed REaCH in 2010; Kim serves as president and Tom is the group’s treasurer. The group meets once a month at the library in the town of DeWitt near Syracuse.

“It’s important to have the support of those enduring the same challenges that you’re going through,” Kim Clough said.

The Cloughs’ burden is eased by their flexible work schedule. Kim is part-owner of Colonial Pharmacy in Whitestown, where Tom works as an accountant.

“We are able to work around her needs, which is good because she always needs someone with her,” Kim Clough said. “She always comes first.”

Those suffering from hydrocephalus and their families may take solace that the condition, like juvenile diabetes, is not necessarily fatal if properly treated.

“We have all sorts of people of all ages at our meetings,” Kim Clough said. “They won’t let hydrocephalus stop them from living their lives.”

Count Elyse among them. Despite her pain she is planning on living a fulfilling life.

“They asked me in school what I wanted to be when I grow up, and I told them I wanted to be a pediatrician,” she said.

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6-Year-Old Elyse Clough From New York Selected as 2016 National Ambassador of Hydrocephalus Awareness for Incurable Brain Condition

Elyse was born on May 26, 2009, 3 ½ months premature, weighing just over a pound. While in the NICU, she had a major brain bleed, which caused her to have fluid accumulation in her brain. After two spinal taps while she was in the hospital, we thought the issue with the excess fluid was resolved.

On October 12, 2009, just one month after being discharged from the hospital after birth, Elyse presented with symptoms that we now associate with hydrocephalus. She woke up extremely fussy, vomiting profusely, and when she opened her eyes, only white could be seen. We took her to the pediatrician, who immediately recognized this as hydrocephalus.

We rushed her to the hospital where she had emergency brain surgery to insert her first shunt. This was a terrifying experience. We were unfamiliar with a shunt and with hydrocephalus, and the situation was extremely overwhelming. About three weeks later, we brought Elyse back to the hospital fearing her shunt had failed, since we now recognized the symptoms.

The standard tests that are performed showed no abnormalities, and despite our pleas and efforts, she was released to go home. Later that same week, we rushed her back to the hospital where they determined her shunt had indeed failed. This second shunt failed in June of 2010. After this, Dr. Satish Krishnamurthy, Elyse’s neurosurgeon, along with a group of patients and families struggling with hydrocephalus realized the need for a cure and a support group for hydrocephalus.

That September, REaCH Organization was created. REaCH stands for Research, Educate, and Cure Hydrocephalus. On December 28, 2014, Elyse woke from a nap having a seizure. Again, we rushed her to the hospital, to find that her shunt had failed again. This fourth shunt only lasted until September 5, 2015.

She presented again with a seizure due to the increased pressure in her brain from the excess of spinal fluid. Again, the shunt failed. This shunt revision has been the worst experience for Elyse so far. She unfortunately suffered another brain bleed while the catheter of the shunt was removed, and her recovery has been much slower than before.

It has been very difficult for the entire family. During this recovery, we had a benefit in honor of Elyse to raise money for hydrocephalus research. With the help of many people and businesses, we were able to raise over $10,000 that was given to the Upstate University Hydrocephalus Research Fund.

A 16-year-old suffering from the incurable brain condition fundraises for a cure

HORSEHEADS, N.Y. (18 NEWS) –

Bella Sacharczyk is 16 years old. She’s smart, funny, and charismatic. A typical teenage girl. You would never guess that she’s had 20 brain surgeries, but Bella has Hydrocephalus, a incurable condition that involves water in the brain.

On Sunday, she joined together with her family and friends to raise awareness about the disease and fundraise for a cure.

“I feel it’s important for everybody to know about it and to raise awareness, just so that one day some children like me won’t have to suffer,” Bella said.

“We’re just trying to be out there anyway we can to raise awareness to raise funding for a cure,” Denise Sacharczyk, Bella’s mother, said. “There is no cure for children or people with Hydrocephalus.”

Even though people living with Hydrocephalus can experience some pretty serious physical and mental complications, Bella’s family wants people to know her struggles don’t define her or limit her.

“Hydrocephalus is, it can be scary, but doesn’t have to be scary… that the children like Bella, she does everything, she’s not afraid,” Denise said.

“I like to do my schoolwork, and I like to educate people about Hydro, hang out with my family,” Bella said.

Bella is grateful for all the support she got from our community.

“That everybody came here to support me… I feel loved and it’s the best feeling in the world.”

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Pediatric hydrocephalus is treatable but has made it difficult for girl to walk

A benefit is planned later this month in Horseheads for a 16-year-old girl with pediatric hydrocephalus, an incurable but treatable brain condition that has made it hard for her to walk.

Raymour & Flanigan and the Pediatric Hydrocephalus Foundation will host “Bella’s Journey” from noon to 5 p.m. Aug. 16 at the furniture store, 137 Colonial Drive in Horseheads. It will feature live music, face painting, games, activities, a bake sale, raffles and more. Prizes included a $100 Raymour & Flanigan gift card. All proceeds will benefit the foundation.

The benefit is being held for Isabella Sacharczyk, 16, from Westhampton, Mass., who will be there with her mother, said Michael Illions, vice president and national director of advocacy for the foundation. Bella has made it her mission to raise money for the foundation, he said.

The foundation provides support those affected by hydrocephalus, seeks to raise awareness and works with the medical community to find a cure.

Bella’s grandmother, Jeannine Zimmer of Horseheads, said she is friendly with Nicole Gulich, the former manager of the Raymour & Flanigan store in Horseheads who is now a district manager. Her son also has disabilities, she said.

Bella told Gulich her story and the amount of brain surgeries she has had, and this event was created from that connection, Illions said.

“She’s had 20 brain surgeries. The last one she had,” Zimmer said, “was to help her mind and her legs to work together. She can’t walk well. She walks with a cane, and she does wear braces, but she doesn’t wear them all the time.”

Her granddaughter, who turns 17 next month, was 2 months old when she was first diagnosed with pediatric hydrocephalus, she said. “She got bacterial meningitis, which caused hydrocephalus,” she said.

Hydrocephalus, also known as “water on the brain,” is the accumulation of cerebrospinal fluid inside the brain, according to Johns Hopkins Medicine. This can be a very dangerous condition, as the normal production and recycling of spinal fluid throughout the neurological system is disrupted. There is no cure, but hydrocephalus can be treated surgically.

“She didn’t go to school this whole last year after the surgery she had because she couldn’t walk well enough to go, so she was tutored at home, and she did marvelous,” Zimmer said.

“The sad part with Bella is she’s gone to the same high school as kids that she grew up with,” she said, referring to Hampshire Regional High School. “But when they found out that she had a disability, the kids stopped asking her to come over to their house. So she doesn’t have a lot of friends, but she does have some friends. She’s a homebody.”

Follow Ray Finger on Twitter @SGRayFinger.

How to help

To make a tax-deductible donation, mail a check payable to the Pediatric Hydrocephalus Foundation to Kim Illions, Pediatric Hydrocephalus Foundation Inc., 66 Caroline St., Second Floor, Woodbridge, NJ 07095. Donations can also be made online by credit or debit card by clicking here.

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