Hello all! I have created this page in hopes to start PRAYERS and to raise money to help cover any medical and unexpected expenses for my daughter Alyssa's brain surgery and continued road to recovery.  I will post updates once surgery takes place....

My name is Erica and Alyssa is my oldest daughter. I am a full time working single mom with 4 kids, ages ranging from 16-8 years old. It is unfortunate but Alyssa must have a 3rd brain surgery on 2/24/17 in which will require me to give her my full attention. This requires me to be off from work and mostly spending my days and nights at the hospital with Alyssa.  During this time my mom will take my place in taking care of the other children in which also requires her to be off work. We are praying and hoping for the best and ask you all to do the same. Prayers are what we need the most. If you can donate to Alyssa’s fund it will be such a blessing and greatly appreciated. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask. Below is Alyssa’s story.

Alyssa is a bright, loving and strong 16-year-old that has undergone a series of dramatic life changing events over the past several years. Any time she smiles and giggles...she LIGHTS up the room. She was born a healthy baby and was on time to hit every milestone! She was a ballet/jazz/tap dancer and did performances at the Wortham Theater in Downtown Houston. She loved to dance and sing and enjoyed going to school...until one day in early January 2007 she began to have several episodes of  shaking.  We knew something was wrong with our baby girl. After a scary visit to the ER Alyssa was diagnosed with Epilepsy.  At that time she began taking many different anti-seizure medications to try and control her seizures and they did NOT work. Seizures at this point were everday around the clock. She had 100's per day we couldn't keep count.  She had forgotten her dance steps even her ABC'S. The few moments she could partially function she was tired and wanted to sleep and or cried because she wanted so badly to remember her dance steps. Our baby girl was slowly slipping away and we knew something other than epilepsy was wrong. After several weeks of this it was brought to our attention by her Neurologist that she showed all the signs of an auto-immune disease called “Rasmussen Encephalitis”.   CLICK FOR MORE INFO ON RASMUSSEN DISEASE ‌This disease is a life-threatening disease and the cause of all her seizures, it was taking over my babies life. . After reading up on the disease my heart fell into pieces and I could not begin to wrap my head on the why’s and how’s.  I cried so much and didn't know what a real heartache was until then. Several months went on (felt like eternity) and then in May 2007, she had a brain biopsy in which confirmed the diagnosis of Rasmussen’s. At this point I still could not believe it or at least didn't want to accept it.  After many different tests (EEG, MRI, CT scans, etc.) a second opinion at John Hopkins Hospital, hospitalizations, ER visits, sleepless nights, and different medications it was determined Alyssa had to undergo a radical brain surgery on the right side of her brain to help eliminate seizures and or reduce the amount of seizures she was having. After almost a year of seeing my baby being sick and me feeling so helpless that I couldn't help her...her Doctors at Texas Children’s Hospital in the Medical Center of Houston, Texas scheduled her for a left “Functional Hemispherectomy”. Alyssa had her surgery February 2008. It took hours for the surgeon to finish her surgery. She woke up in the ICU..we were told what to expect when she woke but when it actually happened it hit me hard and i nearly passed out. Seeing so many wires, bandages, machines, and iv's on her nearly knocked me off my feet. Alyssa had lost her speech, right side vision on both eyes, couldn’t walk and or move any part of her right side of her body. She had to learn it all again. After being in the hospital for 1 month and almost daily speech, occupational and physical therapy she left the hospital walking and talking. Praise God! She continued with outside therapy at TIRR in Medical Center almost every day for a few months to regain all the strength she could.  And as days went on the anti-seizure medication was weaned away from her and she was seizure free for almost 1 ½ years. I thought I was never going to get through it with her and there she was striving and my baby girl was coming back. Even tho she suffered many permanent defects she was seizure and medication free. And smiling and laughing again.

Then late summer of 2009 the seizures returned. She started on mediction and again it did not work. After more test and slowly losing her again, it was found the Doctor missed a connection on her first brain surgery and the disease found its way back to make her feel seizures all over again.  In December 2009 she had a redo brain surgery and clipped the connections they found. Since that day she has not yet to be seizure free and or off medications. Over the last 7 years, Alyssa’s seizures have increased and has left her facing many different challenges. She experiences anxiety, nausea, vomiting, headaches, different sensations in her body, fatigue, seizures…just over all not well. It has gotten to the point where she can’t go to school because she is back to having her seizures daily. So here we are again, after many different tests and Doctors visits, and much discussion with teams of her Doctors  has to under-go another brain surgery. This time instead of going in and clipping the connection they found, they are removing the entire side of her left brain. This is called an “Anatomical Hemispherectomy”. We avoided doing this the first go around due to more risks and the complications are higher, but we are at our last option. We've tried everything and simply are exhausted. Alyssa is tired and gets sad and frustrated because she wants to be able to do teen things and enjoy life. She's tired of all the medications and being sick. Everyday is something different and we never know what each day is going to bring us. This disease is terrible and we hope one day they find a cure. Alyssa tells me at times she wants to be back to where she was before all this happened and ask why and how she got sick. All I want is for her to be happy and live a life without being so sick all the time.  Again, there is no cure for what she has, but we are hoping and praying that this surgery will be the last of them all and she will be seizure and medication free. This does not mean she won’t need therapy and or need to continue to see Doctors , she must continue occupational, speech and physical therapy for many years to come and always be followed by many different specialists. She will face more challenges then other teen her age but hoping surgery goes well she can do This without having seizures or side effects from being on so much medication. We know  the surgery is not a cure for the disease and believe me this has not been an easy decision for us to make but we did it as a team and will continue to be team. This is not a road any parent wants to take or a decision any parent should have to make especially a child, but this is our last option we have for her to have a chance at being seizure and medication free and living life to the fullest.

Thank you for taking the time to read this and for all your support .   Many Blessings!

Erica -Alyssa's Mom