Olds-area parents of a three-year-old girl who could have died from a seizure are praising the help they received from doctors and staff at Olds Hospital and Care Centre, and in Calgary.
Paul Hildebrand says Edyn is doing "fantastically well" now.
The seizure occurred as Paul and his wife Franshesca were putting Edyn down for the night the evening of Feb. 25.
"My wife just felt she should stay with her and she started to make swallowing sounds. Our three-year-old's never thrown up, so she asked, ëdid you need to throw up?' So she called for me, I ran and grabbed a bucket," Paul says.
"So after she threw up, my wife was sitting behind her, rubbing her back and holding her hair out of where she was throwing up and she turned - our daughter turned her head. And my wife kept saying, ëno, honey, you've got to look at the bucket,' and that's how it started.
"Honestly, we didn't even recognize what was happening. When I think of a seizure, I think of the one everybody knows, where a person starts to shake and kick and thrash around a little bit.
"She didn't do that. All that she did was she kind of turned her head and stared up at the ceiling, eyes open. She seemed to be alert, but she stopped responding to us. That's how we started to think, ëhuh, there's something happening.'
"We were minutes from putting her down to bed and we would have never have known that she went into a seizure."
The family lives about 15 minutes northwest of Olds.
A friend who's a nurse alerted emergency at Olds hospital that she was being brought in.
"When my wife arrived carrying the limp body of our daughter, they were ready to assist," Paul wrote in a letter to the Albertan. "The team assembled included Dr. Turner, Dr. Sloan and four dedicated nurses who were prepared for our arrival and jumped into action quickly and concisely.
"Our daughter's oxygen levels were extremely low and the team managed to end the seizure, stabilize her by sedating her and begin breathing for her in a short amount of time.
"My wife and I were amazed how calm and organized the team was in the face of a dire situation. We were calmed by knowing she was in the best care possible."
The decision was made to send Edyn to Calgary for care at the Alberta Children's Hospital. However, the STARS air ambulance was grounded due to a snowstorm, so she was taken there by ground ambulance.
"We were grateful for the ambulance, but it meant a long time for the Olds crew to keep her stable and get her oxygen levels back up," Paul wrote.
"For over two hours the team dedicated themselves to keeping our little girl alive and stable until the ambulance could arrive. During this time, a whole slew of people began praying for our little girl who was on death's door.
"Churches from Olds, Ponoka, Stettler, Three Hills, Rosetown, Phoenix and even El Salvador quickly spread the need on their prayer chains."
Three days later, Edyn had recovered enough to be released and to come back home.
(It's) a miracle, honestly. I mean, she bounced back to 110 per cent within three days. It was incredible," Paul says. "She's running, jumping, laughing. Just a normal three-year-old girl."
Franshesca is amazed by the whole experience and extremely grateful for all the help the family received as well.
"One doctor stated that five minutes could have fatally changed our outcome," she wrote in a letter.
"The result of the long seizure and lack of oxygen should have been brain damage, but the doctors can find no evidence of trauma from this experience.
"I will never be able to explain the peace that came over me once I laid Edyn down on the ER bed. I stood back knowing there was absolutely nothing else that I could do and wondering if that was the last time I would ever hold her.
"I should have been going crazy but I sensed Edyn was completely in God's hands and it was OK, no matter what the outcome."
Paul says the family has since learned that Edyn suffered a febrile seizure.
"Kids between six months and seven years old can get these kinds of seizures that are brought on by a fever," he says. "She's had fevers (but) she's never had any concern with seizures or anything like that. She's never had any maladies of any kind. So we were kind of taken aback. It was a real surprise.
"We're just so thankful that we have the hospital we have and the staff that are there. (We're) pretty fortunate.
"Most of the people I've talked to have never heard of it. So that's why we thought maybe why this happened, so we could raise some awareness."
"One doctor stated that five minutes could have fatally changed our outcome."FRANSHESCA HILDEBRAND
