My daughter, Zoe, will be five years old in September.  I knew when she was born something was different.  Zoe could not breastfeed so we saw a lactation consultant.  The lactation consultant found that Zoe had a submucousal cleft palate.  We visited her Doctor and the only remedy was to wait and see how she developed.  There were many signs that something was not quite right.  When Zoe was 15 months old she had genetic testing done and that's when we found out she was missing a few strands of her 22nd chromosome.  At that point Zoe started speech therapy, occupational therapy, and many Doctor's appointments to have her heart and kidney's checked.  Luckily, everything was normal.  At two and a half years old, Zoe suffered her first seizure while at daycare.  Luckily I was close by and able to get to her within minutes.  We ended up at the local Children's ER and there was no explanation as to why she had the seizure.  After several EEG's and visits to the neurologist there was no explanation.  Zoe continued to have up to 12 seizures a day.  We finally visited a natureopath and he suggested we change Zoe's diet and give her herbal supplements. After a few weeks the seizures stopped. I am so grateful to Dr. Blake.

Zoe has an older brother, Zane, who she adores.  I cannot thank the Dempster Family Foundation enough for advocating for our 22q kids and getting the word out there about 22q.