The "motorsport driver by choice, and engineer by trade" repeated he was unsure how long it would be before he could get behind the wheel again or return to his job at Stevenson and Taylor in Waipukurau.
"Recovery time is anywhere from six weeks to one year," he said.
In a video posted to his Sam Barry Racing Facebook page before the surgery, the talented motorsport driver revealed he had known for 12 months that he had the condition, which he said affected about one person out of every 1000.
"So you're born with this condition and you don't really know about it until you're generally [in your] late teens to adulthood really."
He discovered he had the condition after suffering a "massive" headache, and blacking out and being unable to walk after a visit to the gym to do some deadlifts as part of his training ahead of his first touring car season.
After a visit to a neurologist, Barry said an MRI scan revealed that some of his brain signals were "too low" due to his lower brain being compressed between his skull and spine.
On June 20 he travelled to Wellington where he underwent decompression surgery, which he said would involve removing part of his skull and replacing it with a "patch" to give his brain "more room".
In his video Barry apologised for keeping the matter "private".
I hope this video helps share the word on what Chiari Malformation's are and how common the condition is.
On the 20th of June I will be having decompression surgery.
I can't wait to get back to 110% in the near future.
Thanks again
Sam Barry
Posted by Sam Barry Racing on Sunday, 18 June 2017
He thanked his family, partner, employer and those within the racing industry that knew about the condition for their support, and hoped for a speedy recovery. "I can't wait to get back to 110 per cent," he said.
