Fundraiser for Chichester woman suffering debilitating and disabling condition

Mum-of-three Sophia Boardman suffers from a cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) leak. This fluid surrounds the brain and spinal cord and provides a cushion to protect them from injury. A CSF leak occurs when there is a hole or tear in the outermost layer, which allows some of the fluid to escape.

It has left her unable to sit up for more than a few minutes at a time, with symptoms including nausea, severe pain in her spine, neck pain, memory loss,imbalance, hearing hypersensitivity, body jerks, tinnitus and a feeling of heaviness and pressure in her head.

Sophia is hoping to fly to Freiburg in Germany for specialist treatment not available in the UK.

A GoFundMe page was set up to help Sophia raise the £40,000 her family say is needed to fix the condition for good.

Her family said: "On February 10, Sophia had a planned C-section as her waters went seven weeks early, this should of been one of the best days of their lives. After baby was born during theatre Sophia had the worst most painful excruciating crushing head pain.

“With research we discovered that the CSF leak is a poorly understood condition and that symptoms change over time.

“Imagine not being able to sit up when you want to, because your brain feels like its being crushed.

“She has endured being stuck lying down, day and night for over eight months!

“She is so desperate to be a Mum to her three children again and live and her working life and family roles seem a distant memory.”

The fundraiser will enable Sophia to travel lying down in an ambulance to Germany for treatment.

“We hope she will then be able to return to an upright world and be the mother, daughter, sister, friend and partner she was until February,” the fundraiser said.

To find out more, visit: www.gofundme.com/f/sophias-cfs-fund