I know this is off the smoking topic but I don't use social media account, nor will I. Some of you may know that I have an adult son w/ high-functioning (Asperger's Syndrome) autism. After years on the waiting list for aid he finally was given the services he needed. After several unreliable social workers, he has FINALLY found a person who truly cares. She's fantastic, strong and caring in every sense.
I found out a few weeks back that her daughter has a condition known as Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. It is the worst type of epilepsy running the gambit as far as having every type of seizure there is. She's a single mom so it's very hard for her .Here's a brief summary of this disease found on the NIH database.
"Lennox-Gastaut syndrome is a severe condition characterized by recurrent seizures (epilepsy) that begin early in life. Affected individuals have multiple types of seizures, ...and impaired mental abilities.
"...The most common seizure type is tonic seizures, which cause the muscles to stiffen (contract) uncontrollably. These are of the grand mal seizures. Also common are atypical absence seizures, which cause a very brief partial or complete loss of consciousness. Additionally, many affected individuals have episodes called drop attacks, which cause sudden falls that can result in serious or life-threatening injuries. Drop attacks may be caused by sudden loss of muscle tone (described as atonic) or by abnormal muscle contraction (described as tonic). Other types of seizures have been reported less frequently in people with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome. Seizures associated with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome often do not respond well to therapy with anti-epileptic medications. Although each seizure episode associated with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome is usually brief, more than two-thirds of affected individuals experience prolonged periods of seizure activity (known as status epilepticus) or episodes of many seizures that occur in a cluster." Some days she would have over 5 seizures before even getting her to school.
Her daughter underwent brain surgery Friday to hopefully lessen the frequency and intensity of her seizures. It took over 8 hours in surgery, and she was in ICU and on the ventilator until the next morning when they took it out and moved her to an epilepsy monitoring unit.
Her name is Heather and I don't know what her daughter's name is but I need all the prayer warriors here to send hope, life, and love towards them.
Thank you all!
Julie
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