Teen fights rare disease

MULLAN - The first of over 100 seizures gripped the brain and shocked the body of 16-year-old Kayla Marie Dolsan Nov. 30 as she sat in class at Mullan High School.

Then nothingness.

When the world gradually washed back, Dolsan found herself squeezed in a small, unfamiliar room crammed with machines, blinking lights and noise.

"One minute I was in math class and 15 days later I woke up in the hospital," wrote Dolsan in an e-mail. "One of the doctors told me I was one tough cookie to have pulled through like I did ... he hugged me and said he was glad to see me."

That was over a month ago. After being transferred from Sacred Heart Medical Center in Spokane to Harborview Medical Center in Seattle and tested, scanned, probed, drugged and questioned constantly, Dolson was released to the sanity of home.

Her parents, Rich and Juanita, have kept a constant vigil over their daughter who was diagnosed with frontal lobe epileptic seizures, a rare form of epilepsy.

After frantically searching for a conventional treatment to calm Kayla's seizures without success, they resorted to experimental measures. A new drug called Vimpat was found to have some effect but because it is still in the testing phase insurance would not cover the $445 per month price tag.

Test results from Seattle are expected Jan. 14. Then, doctors will hopefully be able tell the family if they were able to locate the origin of the seizures. If they are successful in finding the exact spot in the brain which triggers the seizures, surgeons may be able to operate on Kayla to partially remedy the problem.

To help the family, a spaghetti dinner, raffle and auction will be held Saturday, Jan. 29. The fee is $8 for adults and $4 for children 12 and younger.

Anyone interested in helping can contact family friend Connie Gutierrez at (208) 752-5222.