ANNA-KAY Spurgon’s life is on the line and she is in desperate need of help.

The 17-year-old suffers from severe headaches as she has been diagnosed with a condition known as arteriovenous malformation (AVM) which is a tangled knot of blood vessels in her head.

If she is not able to raise US$20,000 (about J$2.2 million) to pay for corrective surgery overseas, the consequences could spell disaster and even end in death.

As the teenager sat on a chair in her yard at Sandy Bay in Clarendon last week, the pain was etched across her face.

“My head’s blood vessels are not as usual as they used to be. The blood vessels are knotted and it tends to make my head hurt me as the blood is not flowing as it should,” Spurgon told the Jamaica Observer.

To combat the searing headaches, Spurgon said that she has to take a painkiller, Metamisol, up to three times daily.

“I take it every day, at least three times a day or when my head is hurting me,” she said.

Her mother Glasmin Banton, was a picture of worry as she peered helplessly at her eldest daughter.

The cost of the surgery has been a mental burden and after trying to raise funds in a variety of ways she is now at her wits’ end trying to find a way to save her daughter’s life and give her at least a reprieve from the constant pain that she bears.

The surgery is US$20,000 and it can only be done in the US. She also needs a passport and a visa to travel.

“I need assistance to help save my daughter,” Banton said.

Anna-Kay is well-spoken and has a good command of the English language but, unfortunately, her condition results in her forgetting simple things and as such she was forced to drop out of school and was unable to complete her Caribbean Secondary Examinations Council (CSEC) examinations at the Bustamante High School.

“I tend to forget things easily. I could not even sit my exams,” she said.

When asked if she knew the cost of the surgery, Spurgon replied: “I can’t remember because I’m actually forgetting things.”

Banton explained that her daughter was born at eight months and wondered if the premature birth was a factor in her contracting the malady.

Because of the cost of the treatment that her daughter has received so far, Banton is presently without a home and has been living off the goodwill of her friends, one of whom has allowed her to live in a room with her three children.

“I lost my house because I couldn’t pay the rent and is a friend allow me to stay in a one-room. Right now I don’t know where to turn. All I know is Anna-Kay need help and I would love to get some assistance for her,” the woman said.