Fundraisers

The Cameron Boyce Foundation

Malia Whitaker Vogt is a 12 year from Snohomish Washington.  She is a high energy, kind,  thoughtful and loving young lady. You would not know by watching her play sports, hanging out with friends and doing her daily routine that she is a person with epilepsy. Her Absence seizures started around November of 2016 when she was in first grade.  Unfortunately, the dead stares into space were passed off as that, dead stares.   Just ignoring her parents for a few seconds.  It was not until the spring of 2017, as they became more frequent, we met with her general physician who told us she was possibly having a seizure.  

I was baffled, a seizure?  I looked up Absence Seizures on the web and watched many videos of kids doing exactly what Malia has been doing the past 5 months. We were referred to the neurology department at Seattle Children’s.   After a couple more appointments and an EEG that summer we were given the diagnosis of Absence Seizures and started taking medicine on a daily basis.Malia was very confused and had many questions to why this is happening and didn’t want to take the medicine.  She didn’t want anyone to know.  The doctor mentioned that sports would not be a good idea, especially swimming.  Hyperventilation is a trigger for Absence seizures.  Didn’t I mention Malia is high energy, lots of it.  She had been playing soccer, softball and basketball throughout the years and loves being in the water swimming.  She was having a hard time understanding why the doctor said most likely no sports.  It was explained to her we could work through it and she could continue with sports. If it becomes an issue, then we would deal with the issues one at a time. 

Now, 6 years later she is still playing sports, swimming and doesn’t let her epilepsy slow her down.  She has had many breakthroughs during this time, but we work though them one by one, and she has continued doing what she loves.She is now coming to the realization that this a part of her life.  Yes, she may grow out of them, or she may not.  Only time will tell.  

One of her best qualities is her kindness. She is always thinking of others.  She is very passionate about wanting to help others and her birthday wish is to have family and friends donate to the Cameron Boyce Foundation.  This Foundation is doing the work to bring this neurological disorder to the forefront and building a community of awareness.  The money raised will go towards research in curing epilepsy and ending SUDEP ( Sudden, Unexpected Death in Epilepsy).

 Please find the time to take a moment to donate 5, 10, 15 or 20 dollars.  Every penny counts and the soon to be 13 year old cant wait to see how many much is raised for helping cure epilepsy and SUDEP.   