A grandchild of Norquay residents is involved in a medical struggle that involves her parents taking her to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota for a consultation.
Kelly and Brandi Heskin of Preeceville were faced with every parent's nightmare when their 18-month-old daughter Chelsa began having unexplained seizures.
The couple's families are from Norquay. Chelsa’s grandparents are Brian and Marlene Heskin and Brian Watland, all of Norquay, and Cindy and Brain MacDonald of Calgary.
Chelsa, daughter of Kelly and Brandi (Watland) Heskin was born on May 11, 2014. For the first 18 months of her life she was a healthy toddler, reaching all milestones.
“It all began in November of 2015 when she had a fall and had her first seizure," said Brandi. "We noticed things were wrong when she unexpectedly fell two days in a row. We immediately took her to the Preeceville Hospital. While in the hospital she had another one as I was holding her. It was pretty scary for both of us.
“The local hospital had no answers for us,” Brandi said. “We were sent to Yorkton and then onto Regina for more testing.
“How did my happy healthy baby go from walking and talking to nothing in a short period of time? They wound up sending us to Saskatoon where we saw Dr. Huntsman who is a pediatric neurologist. Chelsa was put through a numerous testing including an electrocardiogram where it showed some seizure activity. It snowballed from there.
“She wound up diagnosed with Doose Syndrome or Dopatic Generalized Myoclonic Astatic Epilepsy,” said Heskin.
Chelsa experiences seizures daily, some days up to 250 seizures, she said.
For the last 10 months Kelly and Brandi have exhausted all medical resources both traditional and non-traditional. Every seizure that Chesla has damages her brain and affects her development.
"Medications that they put her on didn't seem to work for her. We have tried a combination of naturopathic and homeopathic remedies and they didn't seem to work for her either. We found that cannabidiol, or CBD gave her some relief for a short time. While in the hospital they even had her on a ketogenic diet. She was reluctant to be on this diet so we were back to the drawing board. We have her on a modified Atkins diet now as well as valproic acid. This drug has some huge side effects that we don't want her to be exposed to with any long term use.
"It is very frustrating for us as well as for our daughter. The doctors seem to want to mask the problem and are not interested in finding out what is wrong,” she said. “She has been tested with having development issues that has set her back one year.”
The family is continuing its fight for answers. While researching they are progressing with fitting Chelsa with a set of walking stints and a helmet to help her to walk again. The seizures are trigged by different things from lack of sleep to not eating properly to constipation. The new medications have made her seizure-free for the past five days.
The couple, while relieved for now, is still very optimistic and were overjoyed when she was accepted to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota.
Chelsa was accepted as a patient at the Mayo Clinic after a team of physicians had reviewed all of her medical records. Her appointment is for October 11. Kelly and Brandi will have to pay for Chelsa to receive this specialized care. The trip will be very expensive.
"We are hoping that they will be able to finally give us some answers as to what is causing her seizures. We are looking forward to going but the strain is huge," she said.
The couple still travels an on daily bases to various appointments for Chelsa to the city for speech and physical therapy with an occupational therapist. They juggle school and after school activities for their other two children Boden and Kacey.
"We are overwhelmed with all the support from the communities, families, friends and strangers.”
Abenefit social will be held at the Swan Plain Hall on October 1. The social will include a silent auction, raffle table, midnight lunch, music and a cash bar.
A bank account in Chelsa's name has been set up at the Credit Union in Norquay for those who can't attend the benefit but would still like to donate. A Go Fund Me page has been set up, and one may also send a donation for Chelsa to Box 465 Preeceville S0A 3B0.
All donations raised will help Kelly and Brandi with treatment and travel expenses for Chelsa to attend the Mayo Clinic.
