Inspiring Childhood Epilepsy Stories

Read inspiring stories of hope from patients and families treated at Nicklaus Children's Hospital.

Have your own inspiring patient story to share? If you’d like to share your Nicklaus Children's story to inspire hope, and help other families find answers to questions they’re seeking for their child, please contact us at: info@nicklaushealth.org.

Ella's Epilepsy Success Story

Ella, diagnosed with frontal lobe epilepsy in sixth grade, underwent brain surgery. Now, she's seizure free and sharing her experience via her own TED talk. Inspired by the team at Nicklaus Children's, she aims to become a neuropsychologist. Read this story.

Beckett's Story

In his short 12 years of life, Beckett Oleson of Tampa has been a healthy, growing boy who enjoys building with Lego sets and performing in musical theater. His life changed abruptly in 2019, when he started to have seizures. Read this story.

#Jaydenstrong: Two Nicklaus Children’s Nurses Find Hope and Healing for Their Ailing Son

Dayse and Oscar Delgado are two registered nurses that worked at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital for more than 25 years providing care for many children. They had always had the role of care providers until September 2020, when their 2-year-old son Jayden experienced his first seizure. Suddenly they found themselves seeking out the services of the hospital where they had dedicated their careers. Read this story.

Matthew’s Epilepsy Success Story

My son, Matthew Reyes, was diagnosed with epilepsy when he was three and a half months old. To control his seizures, Matthew tried 11 different medications and was placed on the ketogenic diet. Unfortunately, none were successful in minimizing his seizures on a daily basis. This is called intractable epilepsy. Read this story.

Tomas' Ketogenic Diet Journey

Tomas was a typical, developing three-year-old when he had his first seizure. At first, his parents thought it was related to a temperature spike, but when he had another one the next day, they knew something was terribly wrong. The next 24 hours were a whirlwind. Read this story.

Soaring Through Life Seizure Free

At two month’s old, Hannah underwent brain surgery (a temporal, occipital parietal resection) at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital to relieve her of her constant seizure activity after medication did not provide relief. This rare procedure involves removing the affected part of the brain for patients with severe epilepsy disorders. The surgery proved to be a success. She was completely off medications by the age of one and has been seizure free since the operation. Read this story.

A New Life for Danuel

Danuel Snelgrove was struggling during his junior year of high school. The epileptic seizures that had begun when he was 12 were getting increasingly violent and frequent, forcing the South Carolina teen to leave school in the spring of 2003.

Read this story.

Mirabel's Success Story

Just before her first birthday, little Mirabel began experiencing epileptic seizures that shattered early dreams of a normal childhood. After a 10-hour surgery a malfunctioning portion of the left parietal region of her brain that was causing the seizures was successfully removed. Read this story.

Elizabeth's Success Story

Elizabeth began working for Nicklaus Children's Hospital in 1985. A past patient herself, during her time as an employee, both her daughters were patients, and she feels blessed to have offered tehm the best pediatric care. Read this story.

Madeline's Success Story

Madeline Browne of Melbourne, Florida, was only 3 years old when she began having seizures. Following a successful surgery performed by neurosurgeon Dr. Sanjiv Bhatia to remove the diseased tissue, Madeline, now 10, has been seizure-free and has dazzled her family with her newfound maturity.  Read this story.

Renaldo's Epilepsy Success Story

A Miami grandmother trying to end her grandson’s seizures in Trinidad finds hope at Nicklaus Children's Hospital. Read this story.

Melanie's Epilepsy Success Story

Little Melanie, then only 3, was seizing as often as 40 times per day and each would begin with a scream as the child anticipated the impending episode. Melanie's family was exhausted from the long battle to end her seizures and fearful, knowing the unchecked neural malfunction was affecting her growth and development.  Read this story.

Ruby's Success Story

Shortly after Ruby’s fourth birthday, she began having seizures. After thorough examinations by the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center team, it was decided a surgery would be needed to stop her seizures. Read this story.