Jake's story
July 21st was a normal day, as were the days of summer before. Everything was in it's place. School days were approaching and the family was enjoying the last days by the pool, ignored bedtimes and high popsicle counts.
Then July 22, 2008 came....
Jake had his first seizure. I did not recognize it as such. It was not until he had several more of these "little jerks" and bloody noses that I thought this could be seizure activity. We were scheduled to see a neurologist on August 4th, after going through our pediatrician, however we didn't make it that far. I was awakened August 1st, by Jake in a full seizure (6 minutes long)...he started to turn blue so I called 911....
Here begins our journey......
...we were taken by ambulance to the hospital. Checked in. Released. 3 more grand mal seizures after being released. Checked back in. Sent home 3 days later. Another grand mal, this one lasting a whopping 11 minutes and taken by ambulance again. Stayed at Childrens Dallas for a week. Upping meds, changing meds and mixing meds.
Diagnosis: Epilepsy
Cause: Unknown
We have now found, through some absolutely amazing family and extended family, whom I will NEVER be able to thank enough, the wonderful doctors and nurses at Cook Childrens Hospital in Fort Worth, who are continuing to help us through this. We have had another grand last thursday, and are averaging anywhere from 5-30 seizures (jerks, drops, stares) a day. I was to begin back teaching at Apollo, but am having to put that on hold until the seizures are controlled. Jake is not able to go back to school until he is 30 days seizure free. We are still waiting for that ONE day. Please pray for our family and for little Jake. Although this is not the end of the world, it is a huge hurdle we WILL overcome. Pray for courage for Jake, understanding as parents, good doctors and for the right medicines.
Jake's mom, Christine
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It's November. One of the most important months of the year. It's Epilepsy Awareness month. All purple, all the time. Everything Epilepsy to anyone and everyone. Spread the word. Talk about it. To your co-worker. your child's teacher. your mom. your neighbor...anyone. JUST Talk about it. Learn about it. Speak up about it.
My BFF, Brandy lives in Tampa. They have a (yes "a")skyscraper downtown called the SunTrust Financial Center. It's a well-known building, for it is continually lit up, but showing it's ability to be ANY color of the rainbow. People ask why it's lit the certain color and then it snowballs from there and the city is soon aware. Well guess what color it is during this great month of November? That's right...it's PURPLE!! PURPLE for EPILEPSY. And it made the news...see the link below. Then ask yourself what are YOU doing to show your support for PURPLE?
Visit
this link to see it on Tampa's local news!
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