Thomas Porschen – the new NightWatch Ambassador for Germany

When Elen came into the world, at first glance she was a healthy baby. However, in her fifth month, she suffered a long epileptic seizure lasting more than 40 minutes. After several more seizures and hospitalisations, genetic tests revealed that she suffered from a rare and severe form of genetic epilepsy - Dravet syndrome, also called Severe Myoclonic Epilepsy of Infancy (SMEI). Although the disease is genetic, she did not inherit it from either parent; it was just a "gene error" early in pregnancy. Dravet syndrome is also accompanied by many other associated diagnoses, such as delayed psychomotor development, hypotonia, attention deficit disorder, unsteady gait, etc. Although Elen looks like a healthy four-year-old girl, she has many limitations in her life. For instance, she has to follow a strict and regular regime, she has to be constantly under control, she cannot stay with the children in the playground, she cannot have too much fun and she cannot go outside in summer when it is hot outside. All this can lead to an epileptic seizure with unconsciousness, which can further delay her development.

Unfortunately, despite all precautions and four different anti-epileptic drugs, Elen has a large epileptic seizure (Grand Mal) every week. She also may have seizures during sleep, so that is why we are glad we are now using NightWatch.

All these conditions affect the life of our whole family, who have to adapt our lives to Elen's needs. Elen cannot attend kindergarten because she tires easily and often sleeps during the day. Despite all the complications, Elen is a very bright and clever four-year-old girl who energises the whole family with her enormous strength. As her parents, we are happy that she has shown us a new path.