I’m Angela

I was born on Tuesday, May 27, 1975 at 6:38pm in a hospital in PG County, Maryland . When I was less than two hours old, I was transferred to a hospital in Washington, DC for emergency surgery due to being born with Spina Bifida and Hydrocephalus. I had a shunt placed in my head and spent the first few months in the hospital.

My parents were told by doctors that I would never be able to walk, talk, or live past age 4. I spent the next 12 years in/out of the hospital. I had a shunt revision at the age of 12. I have had some physical limitations but, not many. The pain is the hardest part as I've gotten older.

When I was younger, it was hard having to explain to everyone why I was the way I am. In 1999, I gave birth to my first child. I was in labor for 23.5 hours before they did a C-section because he got stuck in the birth canal. In 2002, I gave birth to my second child. She was a planned C-Section because I wasn't going to go through the same issues and disappointment of not being able to have a natural birth.

If you look at me, you really can't tell that I have Spina Bifida w/Hydrocephalus and Chiari Malformation (which I did not know I had until I went to the neurosurgeon in 2013 after blacking out due to Complex Migraines and Cervical Spine Disc Disease). I no longer see the neurosurgeon or neurologist. I only go to my regular doctor when I need to.