Leonardo (Leo) Bublik has always been a sweet boy and Strong as a Lion. The daily challenges he has faced since birth have been far from ordinary or easy. 

7 years ago Leo was born by an emergent c-section at only 32 weeks. The birth had become a traumatizing experience rather then a relaxed environment we were hoping to bring our first son into the world. As a result to the trauma, Leonardo's health took a big hit.

At first his struggles had been to breath, to stay warm at such a small gestational age and drink from a bottle. His total NICU stay was 5 weeks. And just as we thought he had gone threw the hardest days and we could finally get back into the "normal" we realized that something was not right.

Shortly after his NICU discharge we noticed he would have this startling gesture in which his eyes would deviate to a particular corner and he would make a grunting noise.

As a young mama, I hoped that maybe if I'd just swaddle him a little tighter he could feel more secure and safe. But I sensed this was not a problem of my inexperience of swaddling. The events started to happen more often, closer together and he started to clearly have unconscious epileptic episodes.

For 2 months, back to the hospital we went for further testing, further bloodwork, scans, images. Then finally we had some answers. He was diagnosed with Infantile Spasms and Tonic-Clonic Seizures. The worst of childhood epilepsies.

The frequent spasms took away from his life. They declined his physical motor skills, his cognitive skills. They took away his ability to peacefully sleep.

By the Lord's grace those vicious spasms tamed down and Leonardo started making great gains again!

However, threw the years he still experiences break threw seizures that have not been able to be controlled with medications. We were then told that he had Intractable Epilepsy, meaning difficult to control.

On this journey he has failed 10 medications and it seems as if we are currently hitting a wall. The best progress we had was with the Ketogenic Diet but it has become ineffective and the seizures are back on a daily basis, severely impacting his quality of life.

We've given much intentional thought on how to proceed and refuse to let go of hope! We have found a doctor that is confident she is able to help restore Leonardo's body and bring it back into balance. But this will require much testing in order to understand and fill in the missing gaps his body is depending on to start making those gains again.

Unfortunately, not much of this can be provided threw our current neurology team. And insurance will not be providing coverage to help Leonardo recieve the care he needs. 

We want to see him thrive again! His ambitions are no different then other little guys his age. He wants to ride his bike, run outside again, swim in the pool. But because of the constant seizures he has stopped enjoying these things and lives in fear of the next episode coming.

We are asking for donations to help cover the medical expense that is greatly needed to bring him back. Every dollar is gratefully appreciated!