![Jodie-Anne Gardam is suing the State of Victoria after being hit in the face with a soccer ball. Jodie-Anne Gardam is suing the State of Victoria after being hit in the face with a soccer ball.](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/silverstone-feed-data/18b85672-ac59-41c1-b710-0f4c029de65e.jpg/r0_0_800_600_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
A former Melbourne teacher believes she may never work again after being struck in the face at school with a soccer ball, triggering brain and spinal cord conditions.
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Jodie-Anne Gardam, 41, is suing the State of Victoria for economic damages and pain and suffering caused from the fallout of the 2014 schoolyard incident.
The blow activated a condition called syringomyelia, cysts in the spinal cord, and another condition called chiari malformation, where brain tissue extends beyond the base of the skull.
Ms Gardam now suffers chronic pain, "massive" headaches, motor dysfunction, constant nausea, some memory loss, anxiety, depression and muscle twitches, the Supreme Court of Victoria heard on Monday.
While Ms Gardam had a pre-existing condition, a trauma - such a being hit in the side of the head - caused damage to her spinal cord, which triggered the conditions.
She married her partner the same year, but "because of the symptoms, she is still waiting for her honeymoon".
"When she left school in 2014 with high hopes of returning, it was the last time she taught, and she's been incapacitated in that time," her lawyer said.
Ms Gardam paid for surgery herself in 2017, financed with the help of fundraising, to prevent the condition from further deteriorating.
She is now being treated with ketamine infusions for chronic pain, but is unable to resume work and has a "very poor" prognosis for ever being able to do so.
On Tuesday, the jury of six will visit the schoolyard to view where Ms Gardam was struck in the face before returning to court to hear her evidence.
Australian Associated Press