Braxton was born on January 29, 2008 in Charlotte, NC at 2:50 pm. It seemed as though Ben and I had been waiting forever to meet our little guy! So healthy, so handsome and so alert.....He received perfect 10's for his apgar scores at birth, we thought, "Oh, already so smart!". We could not have been happier!

At 7 months old (September, 2008), I got a call from his daycare manager telling me that Braxton was on his way to the hospital, he was having a seizure. Upon arrival at the hospital we were told that our son was not breathing on his own, he was on a ventilator. They had to give him an enormous amount of medication to stop him from seizing.

Once stabilized we were airlifted to Levine's Children Hospital. Here, Braxton had an MRI, CAT Scan, Spinal Tap, an EEG and tons of blood work.....all were perfect. We were released after 2 days only to go back to the ER the next day because our son was not acting "right". Once in the ER, Braxton had another seizure in my arms. The doctors rushed in and loaded him with medication AGAIN, which slowed down his breathing too much......he was back on a ventilator for the second time in 3 days. After one week in ICU we were told he had complex febrile seizures and he would probably outgrow them. The doctors did place him on Phenobarbital to help control any future seizures.

November 1, 2008 after a fun night of trick or treating, Braxton had another seizure at 2:00 am. We were heartbroken. Yet again, we were on our way to Levine's Children Hospital in the ambulance. This time the seizure only lasted 15 mins. and was controlled at home with Diastat (medication they gave us to use at home for any seizure activity). After 2 days in the hospital we were once again told.....complex febrile seizures with the possibility of Epilepsy.

Sixteen weeks later (February 25, 2008), Braxton started having a seizure at 7pm. We tried the Diastat, it didn't work. We gave another dose and it didn't seem to work either. The ambulance finally arrived after 15 minutes and the seizure activity started to slow down. Once in the ER at Levine, Braxton started seizing again. This time, we saw four different types of seizures. I have never been more scared in my life. We just wanted the doctor's to make it STOP! Our little baby seized that night from 8 pm - 2 am, it was horrible. It took 4 different types of medication to put an end to the "cycle" of seizures. Once in ICU and in a coma state, we noticed Braxton was not using his right side of the body when being poked. This, we later found out was called Todd's paralysis, due to the prolonged seizure activity. Movement did come back within a few hours. At 4 a.m. we had a CAT Scan, to make sure there was no bleeding around his brain, which came back normal! The next day, an EEG was performed and showed spikes, which meant we got our first abnormal test. The doctors told us that our sweet Braxton had Epilepsy. One week later, our pediatric neurologist told us she thought our son fit the criteria for Dravet Syndrome. After 4 weeks of waiting for the genetic test results, our worst nightmare became reality, the results were positive.

Braxton has been seizure free for six months due to our nonstop efforts to keep him safe and healthy. His only trigger for seizures thus far is fever, so we go to great lengths trying to keep him healthy. I quit my much loved job last January to stay home with our son so we could try to eliminate colds, viruses and germs. We limit our play groups and do not play outside if the temperature is over 75 (for fear of having him over heat and go into seizure mode). We have visits with our local Neurologist every 3 months and visit the only Dravet specialist in the United States in Chicago once a year. Our son is doing fantastic at this time! He is doing four different types of therapy, four days a week (Physical, Speech, Occupational, and Early Intervention). Our goal is to try and stay ahead of the delays and / or regression that comes with Dravet Syndrome. We have no idea what tomorrow will bring, but we are thankful for today and that we have each other.

To make a tax-deductible monetary donation/contribution to the Tega Cay Neighbors Helping Neighbors, you can donate in the following ways:

• Checks should be made out to: "Tega Cay Neighbors Helping Neighbors" and specify that it is for the Ried family
• Mail checks to: Tega Cay Neighbors Helping Neighbors, 2879 Hwy 160 West PMB 4648 Tega Cay SC, 29708

Your support is appreciated!

Bill Stumpf, CEO Tega Cay Neighbors Helping Neighbors

704-907-9471 billstumpf@comporium.net