About the Book
Don't Sing Happy Birthday a memoir coming soon.
Our story
Everything changed the evening of December 14, 2004. Allie only sixteen months old had her first seizure under the holiday lights. I recall looking at her from across the kitchen. She was sitting on the floor in our dimly lit living room staring up at the twinkling lights. I walked over to her sat down with my legs crossed and guided her head gently to rest on my legs. I looked at her sweet face. The next moments were horrifying when I realized something was happening to her and it wasn't good.
The paramedics arrived shortly. It was cold and flu season in Minnesota and the EMT said to me, in a calm voice, “These are probably febrile seizures, very common in little ones ma’am.” I remember so clearly the hope I had from those nice first responders. And, in the same thought, “But she’s not sick.” Unfortunately, that was not the diagnosis. Far from it.
The paramedics arrived shortly. It was cold and flu season in Minnesota and the EMT said to me, in a calm voice, “These are probably febrile seizures, very common in little ones ma’am.” I remember so clearly the hope I had from those nice first responders. And, in the same thought, “But she’s not sick.” Unfortunately, that was not the diagnosis. Far from it.
This is Allie at Children's Hospital in December 2004 when she was first diagnosed with a seizure disorder.