It’s not too often citizens are recognized for their dedication to a cause, like receiving a proclamation from the governor, but a former Oxford resident has done just that.
Devin Kalisz, of Ortonville, recently received a proclamation from Jennifer Granholm dedicating September as Chiari Malformation Awareness Month.
She chose September because the German pathologist who discovered the disorder, Hans Chiari, was born in that month.
Kalisz, 26, has suffered from the condition for more than two years after a car crash brought on her painful headaches and neck pain.
Chiari Malformation is a serious neurological disorder where the bottom part of the brain, called the cerebellum, descends out of the skull and crowds the spinal cord, putting pressure on both the brain and spine.
Those suffering from the condition have painful headaches, usually in the back of the head, trouble swallowing and sometimes speaking, extreme pain in the neck and shoulders, weakness and stiffness in the arms and legs and balancing problems.
According to the Chiari and Syringomyelia Foundation, Chiari affects about 300,000 people in the U.S.
In April 2006, Kalisz had a decompression surgery where a piece of her skull was removed in order to relieve the pressure.
Because of her condition, Kalisz cannot drive, work and cannot do the fun activities she used to, like playing soccer and rollerblading, because she is partially paralyzed on the right side of her body.
Kalisz, a mother of eight-year-old twins, has dedicated her life to spreading the word about the condition and worked with Granholm’s assistant to create the proclamation.
This is only her first big step in making the country more aware of the condition.
‘It feels good,? she said. ‘It definitely motivates me to keep doing what I’m doing. This was a major step forward.?
Michigan was the first state to adopt such a proclamation, followed by Ohio recently. Kalisz’s mission is to get every state in the country to proclaim September as Chiari Malformation Awareness Month.
To help spread the word about Chiari, Kalisz runs her website, www.devinsdiary.com, where you can read more about her story, get more information on the