On March 17, 2004, St. Patrick’s Day, Alex was born into this world. His parents, Laura and Jose, were filled with joy. Their happiness quickly turned to fear when a few hours later Alex began to have trouble breathing. The next night he started having seizures. The doctors performed a CAT scan that revealed that he was having abnormal activity on the left side of the brain. He needed an MRI to determine a more precise diagnosis.

The following Sunday, Texas Children’s Kangaroo Crew®, a specialized transport service, picked up Alex and brought him directly to Texas Children’s Hospital. An MRI revealed that Alex had frontal cortical displasia: Approximately 5 percent to 7 percent of the left side of his brain never developed, causing his seizures.

“Alex was having multiple seizures every two minutes,” said Laura. “The seizures would last anywhere between 20 seconds to a minute and a half.”

The doctors tried several seizure medications on Alex, but none worked. Alex stayed in the intensive care unit for one month before he was finally sent home. Ten days later, Alex returned to the emergency room at Texas Children’s. He had gone from having 50 seizures to 90 seizures a day.

Alex’s case was presented at a staff meeting to a group of physicians. Their recommendation was to remove the left side of the brain.

“My jaw hit the floor when they told me about the surgery,” said Laura. “The first thing I thought of was how could he live with just one side of the brain?”

Alex was placed on a special ketogenic diet to control the seizures before he underwent the complicated surgery.  One month later, the nine-hour surgery took place at Texas Children’s. Alex’s physician, Dr. Angus Wilfong, neurologist and medical director of Texas Children’s Comprehensive Epilepsy Program, reported Alex’s status throughout the surgery to the family.

The surgery was successful. Alex was taken off all seizure medication, and he’s now seizure free. At this point, there is a five-to six-month delay in his development. He attends weekly physical and occupational therapy sessions and will soon begin speech therapy.

“Alex’s right side of his brain is fine,” said Laura. “We’re hoping that the right side can learn the functions of the left side.

“He’s our miracle child. We’re blessed that the staff at Texas Children’s took the time to do more than what they had to do. They are the best at taking care of patients – and parents.”