Quinn Oteo

EPILEPSY SUCCESS STORY

“My daughter Quinn’s journey is living proof of God’s merciful hand working miracles in this world. 🙏 September 29th, 2018 is a day my wife Cari Oteo and I will vividly remember for the rest of our lives. We put our perfect baby to bed in her bassinette after a relaxing day with friends and family and noticed something strange occurring on the baby monitor. Her left foot and arm were moving in a rhythmic, involuntary motion that resembled something between a muscle spasm and a jerking twitch. Though Quinn was not in immediate distress, we noticed the color quickly draining from her body as heavy vomiting and more intense jerking motions ensued. Our 8 month old daughter was having a seizure.

Without second thought, my wife and I loaded the car and rushed to Children’s Hospital in Plano. As I sat with Quinn in the back seat, it was a conscious effort to stay composed and not tell my wife Quinn’s seizure was growing in intensity as I tried to help her and Quinn remain calm. The moment the car stopped, my adrenaline spiked as I ran full speed into the ER with my daughter draped across my arms…. Only slowing slightly at the nurse’s station to let them know my daughter was actively experiencing a seizure. As we were guided to a room at the end of the hallway, a team of doctors and nurses assembled into the room as Quinn and I approached. As they took Quinn from my arms, I stood there in complete shock while watching the monitors and listening intently to the conversation happening around me. As they tried to control Quinn’s seizure, they gave her a medication her body was sensitive to and she stopped breathing on her own for 10 minutes. In total, Quinn’s seizure lasted over an hour before they could finally get it under control. All my wife and I could do is watch in disbelief and pray as hard as we could for God’s mercy.

A CT scan was performed on Quinn’s brain after the seizure. Though the doctor couldn’t give me a copy of the radiology report, she wanted to make sure I had enough time to read through and attempt to digest the information on the screen. My stomach dropped as I read the words ‘congenital brain malformation’ on the report. Through MANY more tests performed and days spent in the pediatric ICU, Quinn was diagnosed with a condition called diffuse subcortical band heterotopia. This basically created a structural form of epilepsy, which over the next few months resulted in Quinn experiencing a complex seizure disorder in a variety of different seizure presentations.

 

My family and I went through a dark time….. the love, encouragement, and prayers helped Cari and I push through and stay positive through a devastating season of life. At one point, Quinn was on 3 different medications, getting chiropractic adjustments daily, taking vitamin supplementation, and still experiencing multiple seizures every day. She was on her second round of extremely high dosage of steroids, sleeping only 1 hour at a time each night before needing a bottle and diaper change and I mentally snapped. I couldn’t allow my daughter to continue experiencing this, we were driven to do everything in our power to find a solution and give her relief.

Through that journey, I kept coming across stories and research regarding CBD oil and how children with a variety of neurologic conditions had seen amazing results. After reaching out to multiple companies, Spectrum CBD offered to help and we started Quinn on high dosage of CBD in conjunction with her medications. This is when everything changed for us. We have thorough medical documentation of the EEG’s my daughter underwent since her initial seizure. Every EEG we took up until incorporating CBD showed significant pre-seizure/ abnormal activity happening in her brain. After incorporating full spectrum CBD oil with Quinn, we witnessed a miracle happen.

Though Quinn has a significant structural brain malformation, on April 15th, 2019, Quinn’s EEG was NORMAL compared to a child her age without her brain condition. This pattern of normal activity has continued as we have been consistent with incorporating CBD into Quinn’s daily morning routine. On July 18th, 2019, Quinn’s neurologist was so amazed and pleased with Quinn’s progress that he has recommended that we start planning on tapering Quinn off of the ONE medication she is currently taking (Keppra). Halleluiah! Please join us in praying that Quinn’s brain and body continues to thrive as we take another step forward in this miracle journey with Quinn.

“Helped me to calm my brain down, and bring my level of anxiety down to where I was getting that deep level of sleep."

- Dr.Andrew Oteo