We have been blessed. Blessed by God to have 2 of the most precious beings on earth. Dave and I were married 8 years before we were HUGELY blessed by Jayna Suzanne…and then almost 3 years later, we were blessed again by having Jillian Garrett.

I remember one week before Jayna turned 1, we went to Hurst, TX, to a book signing for Oliver North at the Lifeway Christian Store. It was really an awesome thing meeting one of our heroes. That day, Jayna felt hot…and my thermometer wasn’t working properly, so I knew she had a little bit of a fever. When we got home, I was making her lunch and getting the Tylenol ready when I heard a “thump” and found my precious baby girl seizing in the floor. Two more seizures when she turned 3 would determine that those were Febrile Seizures.

Last September (2007), while Jayna was at Mother’s Day Out at our former church, where I worked at the time, Jayna had a seizure that was unlike other seizures she had in the past. It was mild, however, clearly a seizure and the weird thing was she talked to me while having it. This type of seizure was called a Complex Partial Seizure. She had another one, just like it, this past June (2008). We went to a Pediatric Neurologist to have her evaluated and we had both an EEG and MRI done. Today we got the long awaited phone call to tell us what the diagnosis was.

Dr. M called us today and said that Jayna’s EEG and MRI scans both came back abnormal. What the MRI revealed was that Jayna’s Corpus Callosum never developed fully while in the womb. We have found a wealth of information on her condition at the University of Maine - Education & Health Development website. This is what causes her seizures, forgetful memory (memory loss or lack of memory retention), not understanding why/how. There are other things involved, but those were the most prominant symptoms.

What does this mean? Well, once a brain has developed and you either don’t have a Corpus Callosum or a partial Corpus Callosum, you cannot develop one…that means there are no surgeries or medications to take that will develop it. As Dr. M states, you can’t correct or heal something that was never there. Make sense?

So, this is not life-threatening by any means. This just means that Jayna will learn different than the conventional way. We have been advised to have her evaluated and begin therapy with a NeuroPsychologist to see how we can help her in school (and in life). This will be an ongoing therapy…so costs could be quite high, however, God is providing and we place our trust in Him fully.

We have also been advised to have her seen by a Pediatric Opthamologist to have her eyes tested to make sure that the glasses she now has are exactly what she needs to help her.

Jayna will most likely continue to have seizures and when that happens, we’re just to hold her, love her, reassure her that everything is ok. These seizures DO NOT hurt her in ANY way. They will NOT kill her or cause brain damage.

We are SO grateful for our doctor, pediatrician, and others that we’ll meet along the way to help make Jayna’s life easier to manage. We are so grateful for prayers and support and if you have had experience in this field, we would appreciate an email from YOU at kat [at create] thecurlees [dot create] com.