Girl's Best Friend
 Labrador by her side, a young girl finds new
freedom from a debilitating condition
A sweet, good-natured child, 10-year-old Meghan is the Gencos' second
daughter. She has a teenaged sister and two younger, very active brothers.
Her dad, Pat, teaches high school computer technology and her mom, Mary, a
former Rhode Island Hospital nurse, bakes cookies and is active in their
church. This typical Cranston family, however, is anything but typical.
Meghan has epilepsy, a condition that affects 2.3 million Americans. With
most epileptics, the condition is barely noticeable, thanks to medical
therapy. But not with Meghan. She is one of those rare people in whom the
seizures are uncontrollable.
Living with epilepsy-night and day
Ripple Effect
Like
all children, Meghan is mesmerized by the wonders of water. |
"When your child has epilepsy as severe as Meghan's, life comes
to a standstill-it's like you can't move," says Mary.
"During her worst period, she was having 300 seizures a day. She can
never be left alone. My husband and I have not slept through the night in
10 years."
Meghan was diagnosed at just 20 months of age, but her parents knew all
was not well long before. Although her physical development was normal,
Mary and Pat noticed strange staring episodes. Then Meghan experienced a
seizure so violent she fractured her skull in her crib. Anticonvulsant
drugs did not stop Meghan's increasingly frequent and severe seizures
and may have led, her parents believe, to her loss of speech: "At 15
months old, she talked like a normal toddler. Then she just stopped,"
they say.
Help in the most unexpected places 
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