Thursday, February 17, 2011

New treatment for epilepsy changed Fort Worth family's lives
JIM DOUGLAS
February 16, 2011



The parents of a young boy feared for their lives because of his epileptic seizures and fits of rage. A new procedure has changed the child who once terrified the entire family.

Brandy Driggars smiled at her 14 year old son and marveled at how their lives have changed.
"He just had these fits of anger and rage. He would get really angry," said Brandy Driggars, patient's mother. "I was scared to death."

Her son draped his arm across his mother's shoulder. You would never know it by the affection between them now, but Brandy Driggars first began fearing her son Micheal when he was only 8 years old. (...)

Their last hope was new technology used by a handful of doctors, including Scott Perry, a neurologist and epilepsy specialist. First he observed Micheal, monitored his brain activity during seizures. Other scans showed the temporal lobes of Micheal's brain not functioning properly, especially the left one. (...)

In April surgeons removed most of the left temporal lobe. From that moment, Micheal has not had a single seizure, and the uncontrollable rage is gone.

Read the full article here.

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