Pizza fundraiser will help Havre student

Havre teenager Rory Milligan had to give up volleyball and gymnastics when she started getting headaches, losing her balance and feeling tingling in her fingers and feet.

She has a condition called chiari malformation, and May 21, she will be in North Shore Hospital on Long Island in New York to undergo surgery that will hopefully rectify the problem.

The hospital is a renowned center for treatment of the disease.

Friends will be able to help her with medical bills Thursday by getting food from Pizza Hut.

Twenty percent of the proceeds taken in Thursday — from eat-in, carry-out or delivery — will go to help meet the expenses, but people need to say that their purchase is to help Rory.

Chiari malformation disrupts the flow from the spinal cord to the cerebellum, causing problems with movement, explained, Rory's mother, Krista Milligan, a design instructor at Montana State University-Northern.

Rory, a straight-A student, is ready for the operation, Milligan said.

"I'm probably more apprehensive than she is," she said. "She's tired of the headaches and the other problems."

Her older brother, Cole, had a similar problem and underwent surgery two years ago. His condition has improved considerably since then, she said, though he has lost some feeling.

Doctors initially thought the disease was the result of trauma, Milligan said, but now believe that is may be genetic.

Even though she has had to give up some sports, Rory has continued to play soccer, and she hopes she will be able to resume upon her return from Long Island.

But there will be a six-week recovery period.

She will be out of school for about a month, she said, because doctors are afraid that the slightest jostling may cause damage.