The mother of a child with epilepsy said a program in Saskatchewan is a reason her son no longer experiences epileptic seizures.
Aiden Sereda-Wosminity was diagnosed with complex-partial seizures when he was four.
It left him feeling lethargic.
“He started sleeping more, pretty fatigued, not a lot of interest in the things that he was doing before,” his mother Tanya Sereda-Wosminity said.
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She said she noticed the seizure for the first time after a family vacation.
“We came back home and then I think he had a little bit of a severe one that involved the hand-picking and the lip-smacking,” she said.
“As a parent you just feel that fear. You just know that something is going on.”
After meeting with Dr. Salah Almubarak, the seizures went away.
“Now that we have the right medication, the right support, and being seizure-free, he’s up at six o’clock again. There are no naps.”
After going in for an MRI, the diagnosis came quickly.
“He was able to determine what was happening with Aiden I think within about forty-eight hours,” she said.
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Epilepsy is the third most common brain disorder and affects one per cent of all children.
Almubarak said the Pediatric Epilepsy Program of Saskatchewan is able to see more patients than before.
Wait times have been cut, eighteen new doctors and specialists have been added, and the program has seen double the number of patients in 2015 than it saw in 2012.
“We see most of the children in a very short time fashion. Very much within a week or two weeks in more than seventy-percent of the cases,” Almubarak said.
“Seeing a physician without going to other provinces, that it something new for us.”
The Children’s Hospital Foundation of Saskatchewan has created a fund accepting donations for the program. Money will be used to improve the quality of care.
“Children from everywhere will be able to benefit from the program,” said stewardship director Lynn Redl-Huntington.
“They’ll be able to fund urgent equipment needs, they’ll be able to fund research, and patient care too.”
Sereda-Wosminity is grateful for the program which has allowed her son to feel more like his usual self.
“You’re just so grateful that you can have your child back.”
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