Gabrielle has been doing well. No seizures in 8 days!! We are so thankful for each day without seizures. We are so thankful for the progress she is making developmentally. Praise God!!

Thank you for all of your messages and emails of encouragement. Thank you for continuing to pray for our little girl. It means a great deal to us!!

Just had to share a video of Gabrielle taking her first walker-assisted steps.

Gabrielle has been doing pretty well. She had one seizure on Tuesday which was about 40 seconds long. She continues to take Trileptal and we are still loading her on the Lamictal. Gabrielle gets drowsy mid-morning form the medication but aside from that she has been pretty active. She is pulling up on everything and cruising around on all the furniture. She is eating well and sleeping better now that her congestion has cleared.

We continue to pray for God’s will in her life. We pray that she will learn to walk and talk. We pray that she will function normally and that the seizures will stop if that is His plan.

Thank you for continuing to follow Gabrielle’s story.

Just a quick post to give you the latest on Gabrielle. She had 2 more seizures early yesterday morning. The seizures did not seem to generalize. She seemed to remain conscious and they lasted 10-15 seconds. We began Gabrielle on 2 medications yesterday to help suppress seizure activity. So far she seems to be tolerating them well. The last 24 hours she has seemed much more herself and is playing, crawling, and cruising.

We continue to pray these seizures will not become a pattern and that they will respond to the medicine. We appreciate your continued prayer for our little girl. Thank you all so much for your love and support.

I write this update with a very heavy heart. Gabrielle had 2 seizures over the weekend. The first we were not sure about and the second seizure confirmed our suspicions. They were both very short and Gabby did not lose consciousness. Please cover our family in prayer. Pray that God comforts us and gives us all the strength we need. It is so difficult when we are reminded that we don’t know what tomorrow holds.

Please pray for the Austin family as well. Our very dear friend Lisa will be having a CT of the brain done today to check for cancer. I’m praying that Jesus is there with them holding their hands and comforting them with His amazing love. I pray that God carries them through this valley and that they will be rejoicing on the other side.

As the song by Mark Shultz reminds me this morning “God never said this life would be easy but He does promise to see us through the storm.”

I am comforted knowing God is still with us even in these valleys and we need not be afraid.

Psalm 23

The LORD is my shepherd,
I shall not want.
He makes me lie down in green pastures;
He leads me beside quiet waters.
He restores my soul;
He guides me in the paths of righteousness
For His name’s sake.
Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,
I fear no evil, for You are with me;
Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.
You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;
You have anointed my head with oil;
My cup overflows.
Surely goodness and lovingkindness will follow me all the days of my life,
And I will dwell in the house of the LORD forever.

Just a quick update on Ms. Gabrielle. Today marks 4 months of being seizure-free! This is just amazing to me. Amazing that on Sept. 23rd she had 12 seizures and Sept. 24th she went without a single seizure and has remained that way for 4 months!
God truly can do anything! He IS a God of miracles.

Gabrielle is pulling up on everything these days. She has followed Benj half way up the stairs and is just at the beginning stages of cruising. Gabby’s OT feels she is doing well enough with her fine motor skills that she is no longer in need of occupational therapy. She is still working with a physical therapist to master walking. A speech therapist will be evaluating her soon to see if she would benefit from intervention in this area. Gabrielle is trying really hard to communicate lately. I taught her some baby signs and she is attempting to use them. She points at everything she sees and tries to tell me about it. Gabby is a very happy girl. She loves to say “daddy” every time she spots Duff. She was clapping away to the music in the van yesterday.

Gabrielle’s progress has really been wonderful. Please continue to pray for her as she learns to cruise and walk. Pray she will flatten her feet out more and grow in her coordination.

Just want to share this song I have come to love by Mercy Me called “Bring the Rain”.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ElISFieaukc

The following lyrics come from this song:
Bring me joy, bring me peace
Bring the chance to be free
Bring me anything that brings
You glory And I know there’ll
be days When this life brings me pain
But if that’s what it takes to
praise You Jesus, bring the rain.

It really presents an amazing perspective for anyone experiencing pain in their life.

Hey All,

Just wanted to update all of you and let you know we celebrated 3 months seizure-free on Christmas Eve. It has been an amazing 3 months as we have watched Gabrielle begin to blossom. She continues to amaze us every day with her mobility and her ability to get into mischief. I don’t recall rejoicing over any of our other children grabbing ornaments off the Christmas tree but this year I was thrilled to see Gabrielle yånking them off!!

We are so thankful for the way God has worked in our lives this past year. He has taken away our pain and turned our mourning into dancing.

Hope you all have a very blessed New Year!
Kelly

Enjoy this video of Gabrielle crawling!!

Wanted to update and let everyone know that Gabrielle is crawling. She is on the move and getting into everything. She crawled all the way down our long hallway upstairs to greet her mama. I am amazed that she is able to crawl when I think back to the intense left sided hemiparesis she was experiencing only 3 months ago! I might have to upload a video later so ya’ll can appreciate the joy of seeing this child crawl! We are working on pulling up to standing now and she tends to roll her left foot out and lock her knee on that side. It is most likely due to weakness on that side which the therapist is hoping will improve as we work with her. Please continue to pray for Gabrielle as she tries to achieve another milestone.

Our family wishes all of you a very Merry Christmas!

The O’Melia’s

Today we celebrate Gabrielle’s second seizure free month. Every day has been such an amazing gift. I continue to watch Gabrielle’s daily progress through tear filled eyes. It is so incredible!! I took the normal development of our first 4 children completely for granted. Today, as I work with Gabrielle to master crawling I am thankful for the smallest improvement. I marvel at how God has changed my perspective!

This is a letter of thanks we sent to Dr. William Gallentine of Duke University Medical Center. He is Gabrielle’s pediatric neurologist and we would highly recommend him for he is an outstanding physician.

Dear Dr. Gallentine,

Thank you for being an exceptional doctor.

You truly get to know a man’s character when it is tested. You have journeyed with us through medication trials, pre-surgical testing, surgery, post-op recovery, and further testing to determine candidacy for a second surgery. Throughout all of this you were always kind and professional. You honestly informed us of the pros and cons of every medication or procedure. You listened to our many questions and treated us respectfully. You always included us in the decision making process and asked for our opinions and feedback.

It is not easy to accompany parents and their children on journeys filled with painful trials. You however have obviously been chosen to do this because your caring and compassion made all the difference as we fought together to find a way to stop Gabrielle’s seizures.

Today we celebrate Gabrielle’s second seizure free month and we want to thank you for everything you have done to help our little girl. God is working through you to affect sick children and we pray He blesses you and your family for your obvious dedication.

Please thank Josie, Debby, and Mark in the EEG lab for us. They treated Gabrielle and myself like family. They always went the extra mile for us. They showed us so much love and caring.

If any of you ever want to check on Gabrielle’s progress we have created a blog at http://GabrielleFaith.com.

With much gratitude,

Duff and Kelly O’Melia

This is a thank you letter we sent to Dr. Gerald Grant at Duke University Medical Center. He is the pediatric neurosurgeon who performed Gabrielle’s surgery and we can’t say enough good things about him!

Dear Dr. Grant,

Thank you for being an exceptional doctor.  From the first time we met with you to discuss our daughter’s candidacy for surgery you impressed us.  You patiently answered each of our many questions.  You praised us for our thorough research and encouraged us by saying we were asking great questions.  You then gave us your email in case any further questions should arise.  You informed us thoroughly about our daughter’s condition, explained the risks and benefits of surgery, and always included us in the decision making process.

The day of surgery you calmly explained everything that happened during the procedure in great detail.  Thank you for your patience and the incredibly careful job you did in the OR.  Thank you for coming to our room each day post-op and never leaving until our questions were answered and our concerns were addressed.  Thank you for treating us like concerned parents and never belittling us.

Thank you for the kindness you showed when we brought our daughter back several weeks after surgery and she was still seizing.  Thank you for reminding us that there was still hope.

Dr. Grant, you are an incredibly compassionate physician.  You are humble yet confident, honest yet kind, capable yet caring.

Today we celebrate Gabrielle’s second month of being seizure free and we want to say thank you!  God is using you in this life to heal children.  He is working through you every day to affect sick children and we pray He blesses you and your family for your dedication.

We have created a blog for our daughter at http://GabrielleFaith.com if you ever want to check in on her progress.

With heartfelt thanks,

Duff and Kelly O’Melia

Well, this Thanksgiving we have MUCH to be thankful for!! Gabrielle is approaching her 2 month mark of being seizure free!! She continues to make progress in her development every day. She is able to get on her hands and knees now and she rocks back and forth in an attempt to begin crawling. She gets to a sitting position on her own now and the use of her left side is constantly improving. She is even beginning to hold her sippy cup! The therapists were really impressed this week with her fine motor movement and want us to continue to work on strengthening her arms and hips so she can begin crawling. I continue to thank God for this miracle and I pray that she will learn to crawl, and walk, and talk!

Hope you all have a very happy Thanksgiving!!
Love,
Kelly

Hey All,

We went to Duke for a follow-up appointment today. Gabrielle weighed 19.6 lb! This is an impressive gain after weighing 16lb for so many months. The doctors thought she looked great and felt her left sided weakness had improved.

They were a bit surprised to hear Gabrielle is off all of her meds. Dr. Gallentine said I’m trying to give him more gray hairs. We discussed the pros and cons of meds and I stated that I feel comfortable leaving her medication free because I don’t believe the meds are responsible for her improvement. I believe she was healed. He agreed the meds didn’t seem to help her much and that they can effect development. He said the norm is to keep them on the meds for 1 year following surgery but since she is doing so well and we are comfortable without them she can stay off of them. He said to continue physical therapy and we’ll see you back in 6 months.

Dr. Gallentine has been a wonderful doctor through all of this! He listens, informs, and always includes the parent in the decision making process. We have had the best experience with him and Dr. Grant. They truly care about their patients.

Gabrielle has learned two new tricks this week which I must share. She started clapping her hands and she learned to play peek-a-boo yesterday at the grocery store.:) She knows how to make her Mama’s day!!

That’s all for tonight!
Kelly

Hey Everybody,

This is day #33 of no seizures!! Gabrielle is off all of her medications. She is God’s little miracle. She seems to be gaining weight and loves to babble. We will follow up with her doctors next week. She is working with PT and OT to regain strength and to make progress on her gross motor development. Each seizure free day has been such a joy! It has been wonderful to focus on normal everyday stuff again.

We continue to pray for each area of Gabrielle’s development and I am amazed at how thrilling it is to see her master the simplest thing!

I will keep you posted!
Kelly