Michaela

Though blessed with the looks of a doll – an angelic face and brown eyes – Michaela Lozano’s world has been far from the perfect imaginary world of Barbie and Ken.

Michaela has Intractable Complex Partial Epilepsy, with a Bilateral Foci – a unique neurological disorder, involving recurrent seizures. To make matters worse, she has drug-resistant or “intractable” epilepsy. “We’ve tried almost every medication there is,” says her father, Donald Lozano.

Only three months old in January 2005, the young girl suffered her first seizure at her grandparent’s house. A week later she had another.

“We had never seen a seizure. We really didn’t know the seriousness of it in the beginning,” says Donald. “We didn’t understand the severity of it.”

The family chose to take Michaela to Children’s Hospital Central California because of the Hospital’s reputation for treating children.

“We had no idea of what was going on,” says Michaela’s mother, Melissa. “All we knew is that she was having seizures.”

A seizure occurs when the brain receives a burst of electrical signals, interrupting normal brain function.

Normally, one part of the brain misfires, but in Michaela’s condition the temporal lobes – the area of the brain that controls emotion and memory function – on both sides of her brain misfires.

In order to diagnose her condition, Children’s neurology team had to catch a seizure in progress to prove it was epilepsy. The team performed a video electroencephalogram (EEG), a lengthy process in which Michaela was videotaped while her EEG was recorded. An EEG measures the electrical activity in the brain.

Michaela’s been to the Hospital numerous times for her seizures. “The first year she had over 20 admissions,” recalls her Father. Neurologist Dr. Steven Ehrreich and staff at Children’s Neurology Practice used medication to decrease the severity of her condition, but she’s still a regular visitor in the Emergency Department.

Today, the adorable 2-year-old receives help at Children’s Outpatient Therapy Services, where her care includes occupational, physical and speech therapy for developmental complications.

“With all of her therapy, she’s made tremendous strides. Now she’s near age-appropriate on every level,” her mom proudly says. “Most children with her condition regress, but Michaela keeps progressing. Each year she gets better. The severity of her seizures is decreasing.”

Through their experience, Michaela and her family have made plenty of friends at Children’s Hospital, where Michaela is as popular as Barbie. “We know all the nurses and they all know Michaela,” says her father. “The Hospital is a big part of our support system – the doctors and physical therapists – along with our family and friends,” adds Mom.

“She still has a chance to grow out of it, there are a lot of possibilities,” Mom says, smiling.

The staff at Children’s Hospital understands possibility. Possibility is what they create every time they help a child like Michaela or any of the other kids you’ve read about in this book. The future is always waiting to be created by people with the right type of imagination. Amazing people, who provide incredible care.

Story Sponsored by: Ken & Susan Boyd
Photo Sponsored by: Linda I. Ridenour Foundation