‘I had to risk son being paralysed or leave him with 70 seizures daily’
A MUM faced the choice of leaving her son to battle life-threatening seizures or risk paralysing him.
Surgeons told Stephanie Bailey removing part of Gabriel’s brain was the only way to beat his epilepsy, which caused up to
70 crippling seizures a day. But the risky operation could have left Gabriel, seven, permanently paralysed on his left side.
Stephanie, 32, agonised over the decision for a week before agreeing to the procedure.
And she was distraught when Gabriel woke from the ninehour operation unable to move.
Stephanie said: “It was the most difficult decision of my life.
“If we didn’t have the surgery, the doctors said he’d be in a vegetative state by the time he was a teenager.
“Gabriel is the most amazing little boy and I couldn’t bear the thought of his condition destroying him like that over time, so I chose the surgery.”
Stephanie added: “He’s only had
10 seizures since the surgery. I’m so happy the hardest decision I’ve ever made was the right one.”
Stephanie had Gabriel in 2012 with then-partner Jose Pestana.
He was a healthy baby until he started having seizures at seven months. Doctors diagnosed him with cortical dysplasia.
The condition – a common cause of epilepsy – occurs when the top layer of the brain doesn’t form properly.
Stephanie said: “I had to go everywhere with him because his seizures were so frequent and spontaneous.
“He had seizures during the night, which meant we never got much sleep and he was usually too tired to go to school.
“Gabriel’s father Jose and I split up a few years ago but Jose is amazing with Gabriel.
“He’s very much still involved and always in the family home so Gabriel has two consistent parents.”
Last December, a scan found removing the undeveloped part of his brain would give Gabriel a 50% chance of being seizurefree, but paralysis was a risk.
Stephanie said: “I thought, ‘How can I choose what’s best for my little boy when I don’t even know what that is?’”
When Gabriel woke from the surgery in June, he was unable to move the entire left side of his body. Stephanie said: “I was so scared I’d made the wrong decision.
“But he was so happy that he wasn’t having seizures – at the end of each day he’d say, ‘They must have taken all the seizures because I haven’t had any today.’” And Gabriel started to regain movement on his left side and took his first steps 18 days after surgery.
“His brain is still healing but, four months after surgery, Gabriel is more active than ever,” added Stephanie, a teaching assistant from Oxford.
“By some miracle, my brave little boy is back on his feet already, running and dancing.
“He’s now more alert, he’s clever and funny and just so full of energy.
“I’m euphoric come this far.” that we’ve