Natalie Feliciano was only 10 days old when epileptic seizures took control of her body.
“She began to hold her breath,” recalled her mother, Joanna Feliciano.
“She was staring off into space. Her eyes were flickering to light,” Feliciano said. “There were times she would have clusters of seizures, infantile spasms, 20 or 30 at a time. They would go on for a minute or two. You could tell she didn’t understand why her body was doing this.”
Natalie’s pediatrician told Joanna and Pablo Feliciano that their baby girl, born April 12, had epilepsy.
Further testing confirmed his diagnosis.
“Natalie was presented to Rainbow Babies and Childrens Hospital at 2 weeks of age, with multiple seizures involving the right side of her body,” said Dr. Nancy Bass, a pediatric neurologist at Rainbow Babies and Childrens Hospital, Cleveland.
“An MRI scan of the brain was done, which revealed that a large part of the left side of her brain did not form correctly,” Bass said. “Despite trying six medications over time, her seizures continued to worsen. Because she was not responding to medications, we knew the seizures were from the part of her brain that did not form correctly.”
