This is Holle Burger.
She needs your help.

As Holle grew and entered puberty, her mother began to notice that Holle was having problems with her balance and seemed to be falling down a lot. A visit to the Dr. gave Holle a clean bill of health, and the symptoms were attributed to Holle just being clumsy. Months went by, then Holle suddenly started having difficulty breathing, memory loss, dizziness, blackouts, blurred vision, difficulty swallowing, and headaches that were becoming more severe, and more frequent as time passed, in addition to her balance becoming less and less steady.

As a parent, you never want to think that something is wrong with your child. You bury your doubts and convince yourself that your child is just fine. You've got a house to keep up, errands to run, appointments to keep. Life has to go on.

Sometime around Holle's 11th birthday, Dana took Holle to her doctor yet again for her worsening symptoms. After an MRI, she knew from the doctor's grave tone that something was terribly wrong. Any parent — any human — reading this can understand the shock, horror, and pain that Dana felt when she learned through subsequent visits with neurologists, that Holle was born with a congenital malformation called Aronold Chiari Malformation Type 1.

The first Neurologist wanted to do decompression surgery. Unwilling to let Holle go through a surgery unnecessarily, Dana made an appointment with the top Neurologist in their city. The second Neurologist also wanted to do surgery, and he wanted to do it ASAP.

Holle's condition was so severe, that she needed to have decompression surgery immediatly to halt the progression of nerve damage.

About Chiari Malformation Type 1

The Arnold Chiari I Malformation is considered a congenital malformation. It is characterized by a small or misshapen posterior fossa (the compartment in the back of the skull), a reduction in cerebrospinal fluid pathways and a protrusion of the cerebellar tonsils through the bottom of the skull into the spinal canal.

It is an understatement to call this a heartbreaking situation. It also stands to be an unbelievably expensive one, especially for a single parent household with six children. Holle's father is of no help, as he has had no contact with his children for 5 years. Even though he has been ordered by the court to help with Holle's medical expenses, he refuses to do so. If anyone reading this page knows Dean Stuart Burger, pictured below, please forward his contact information so that the courts may enforce his court ordered obligations.

Our hope is that people whose lives Dana, Holle, and her family have touched - with their friendship and Dana's volunteer work with Sedgwick County EMS since 1997, as well as other volunteer work in the community - can help. Every dollar you give will provide Holle support to receive treatment and physical therapy for this terrible defect. Perhaps more important, it will provide Dana and Holle some of the hope they need to play out this horribly unfair hand life has dealt them.

Best Wishes,

Dana, Holle, and family