Anastasia Tendean Perez & Family

What a blessing it is to be a mother.  My name is Devi and I was blessed to have 5 children to raise.  Our oldest are twin girls by the name of Anastasia & Priella (17 yrs old) they are seniors in High School, then we have our only boy Giovanni (10 yrs old) 4th grader, our funny girl Amelia (8 yrs old) 3rd grader and our youngest daughter Elisha (4 yrs old).  Life is a joy, hectic, but a blessing none the less. Our oldest twin Anastasia was excited to start senior year with her sister Priella and friends when on the second day of school had a seizure for the very first time.  After an MRI scan done in September of this year she was diagnosed with Hippocampal Sclerosis (Abnormality of the Left & Right temporal lobe of her brain).  It has been a very fast roller coaster ride for my family and I because after finding out that she has this condition, she had 2 Grand mal seizures while she was at school with in 2 weeks time.  She was hospitalized 5 times because of her seizures and after many EEG and Spinal tap, they discovered that she has a particular Antibody (AntiGAD 65) that is destroying her brain cells.  To share the seriousness of her condition, on a normal healthy person the level of AntiGAD 65 should be at 0.02 and our daughter has a level of 561 in her blood and 188 in her spinal fluid.  On top of all this there is swelling on her brain that is causing her to have absent of seizures and she suffers from short term memory loss, nausea, headaches and dizziness.   This has been tough for me as a mom to see that her daughter who is supposed to be having the best time during her senior year, she has been going back and forth to the hospital, can not remember things, and on so many medications.  Recently we found out that the only way to get rid of this ANTIGAD 65 is Chemotherapy which she will have to start on December 20th.   One thing that is good is that our daughter Anastasia continue to stay positive and hold on to her Faith.  Seeing her like this gives me the encouragement to be stronger for her.  We are a firm believer that Corporate Prayers can move a mountain and we believe that GOD has her under HIS wings.  We also believe that the doctors has been given wisdom to make the right decisions on what treatments and medications will help our daughter get better.  But ultimately JESUS is the TRUE HEALER and we are holding on to that. This new battle we are facing has force me to take a break from working and it has been hard for my family and I.  Medical bills are piling up, extra expenses from the doctor office, medicines, etc has tap out our savings and we do not know how to keep up with our upcoming bills and also give our children their Merry Christmas.  We do not have our families here in Texas because we moved from Florida about 2.5 years ago, but we are thankful for our Friends who have become our family that is Praying for us, holding our hands as we go through this season of our life. Thank you to everyone who is walking along side us during this difficult time.  There is no word that describe how thankful we are and all we can do is Pray that GOD will Bless you all abundantly for your kindness, generosity and LOVE towards our family. Side note:  Anastasia currently is on Interim Homebound, which means she can not attend school.  She was also working at Chick Fil A, but because of her current condition she is taking a leave of absence from work.  Her future plan is to attend TCU for a medical degree in sports medicine and she is serious about that future of her :)  We do not know what the Future holds for her and our family but we know GOD does, and we Trust in HIM.