Abigail’s Story -Rest in Peace 2004-2023

Rest In Peace Beautiful Abigail

2004-2023

Hi my name is Deborah. I’m the mother of a 17yr old daughter who has Lennox Gastaut syndrome. She was 10lb in weight when born, a big bouncing beautiful baby girl. After a while we noticed that Abigail was not reaching her mile stones. She didn’t walk until she was 21months. She didn’t speak until she was three. But she was fine. When she would learn how to do things she would do everything 100%. She soon headed off to school at the age of five.

At the age of six Abigail had her first seizure. It was horrific and lasted an hour. She was hospitalised for a few days, and after a series of tests she was diagnosed with epilepsy. We never could have imagined the journey we were about to embark on. Abigail was given anti-epileptic medication and off we went.

Time passed and Abigail’s seizures were still there. So we changed medication. She would do well initially and then the seizures would roll back in again. We tried all sorts of medications and different combinations, but nothing would work. She had a Vagus Nerve Stimulator put in. Yet again she did well for a while and then the seizures would ramp up.

We tried the Ketogenic diet with Abigail . Same story, great for a while then we’d be back where we started. During this time Abigail spent most of her life in her pjs on the sofa watching movies repeatedly. She was drooling, staggering and flat out not able to function. She soon lost her ability to walk and was in a wheelchair. Her speach was so hard to understand. 

Through all this she was having 140 seizures a month. She had no existence. No friends. Barely able to go to school, missing weeks and sometime months.  In the last 12 months she was diagnosed with Lennox Gastaut Syndrome. We were able to treat Abigail with Medical Cannabis. She is doing exceptionally well, learning so much every day and her future looks happy healthy and bright. It’s been a long journey for us as a family but there is always hope.