At age two, Dacia Humphrey suffered every parent’s worst nightmare. A high fever moved through her tiny body to her brain where it caused a seizure and scarring to her temporal lobe. She was unconscious for two days, and then emerged with a temporary loss of speech. After the fever receded, Dacia was left with epileptic seizures that undermined her ability to learn and left her struggling with low self-esteem.

A LIFE OF CHALLENGES

At the time of the fever, Dacia and her family resided in Guyana. Physicians there prescribed medicines, but told the family that they did not have the resources to repair the damage. By age seven, Dacia began to experience auras, which are warning sensations before a seizure. Hers came as epigastric sensations — an odd feeling in the stomach that precedes a seizure.

By age 11, she experienced her first major seizure on a trip to Canada. After the family relocated to the United States, Dacia had a terrible seizure in the lunch line at school.

“After that they told my mother not to bring me back to school without a doctor’s note,” Dacia says.

After a seizure, Dacia would often not recall the events of the day before. This made learning very difficult, and despite her strenuous efforts at study she did poorly in school and was classified as learning disabled. In addition, Dacia’s poor health affected her appetite and by her late teens she weighed only 98 pounds.

The various medications she took –– she tried 11 different medications over time –– did not control the epilepsy and Dacia began to experience as many as five seizures a day. As a result, the teenager was restricted from normal social activities.

“I couldn’t go a lot of places by myself,” she says. “I just wanted a normal life.”

CURING DACIA

In December 1999, Dacia sought treatment with Eric B. Geller, M.D., Director of the Adult Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at Saint Barnabas Medical Center and a nationally recognized epileptologist, board certified in neurology and clinical neurophysiology. The Adult and Pediatric Comprehensive Epilepsy Centers offer complete care in eliminating or reducing seizures in adults and children with epilepsy and other seizure disorders.

Dr. Geller admitted Dacia to the Epilepsy Centers where she was tested using a variety of sophisticated neurodiagnostic techniques, including video EEG monitoring, MRI and functional neuro-imaging, and Wada tests.

“We test to see where the seizures come from and videotape the seizure as it occurs,” explains Dr. Geller. “Our tests determine where the seizures originate, the cause, and whether it would be safe to perform neurosurgery.”

By injecting a short-acting anesthetic into the problem area, the neurologist gains an understanding of what would happen if that area of the brain was to be surgically removed. Speech and short term memory tests are performed, and the entire function of the brain is assessed. Fortunately for Dacia, her seizures originated from only one brain area, and her speech and memory function would not be harmed by removal of that section.

Dr. Geller recommended brain surgery to remove the scar tissue on the right side of the temporal lobe. If the seizures were to continue, they would worsen and cause increased damage.

According to Dr. Geller, approximately 60-70 percent of patients with epilepsy are helped by medications. Of the remaining 30-40 percent of patients with uncontrollable seizures, about one-third are cases like Dacia’s where neurosurgery can safely and permanently end seizures. Those who are not treated tend to get worse and, on average, patients wait 16-18 years from the beginning of their seizure problem to seek this kind of treatment.

“It is such a successful and generally safe kind of surgery and it can really turn someone’s life around, especially someone young,” says Dr. Geller. “Rather than waiting until the patient is 40 years old and has never been able to hold a job, we hope to treat them early and get back on track.”

Fearful of surgery, her parents tried to discourage Dacia from undergoing the procedure. The determined young women told Dr. Geller that she wanted a life that was seizure-free.

“Dr. Geller was very positive about the surgery and he made me feel that I had a chance at a better life,” Dacia says. “He reaches deep down inside to help people and works miracles. Dr. Geller is really a great doctor.”

A LIFE CHANGING SURGERY

In May 2000, the damaged tissue was successfully removed by Werner Doyle, M.D., attending neurosurgeon at Saint Barnabas, in a four-hour surgery. After the neurosurgery, Dacia stayed at Saint Barnabas for over a week and then recovered at home for the two months.

Now, five years later, she has never had another seizure.

Life for Dacia has drastically improved. She has been on the Dean’s List at Kean University every semester since the surgery and is studying to be a special education teacher.

“Now that I have a normal life I want to help kids in the same position as me,” she says. She adds that her parents, who feared the surgery, now tell her how much she has matured as a result of her seizure-free life.

“I always had low self-esteem and now I have grown strong and independent,” she says, adding, “It’s like a miracle.”

Dr. Geller is equally positive when he speaks about Dacia and her remarkable journey.

“This is one of my most rewarding cases,” he relates. “It was very gratifying be able to attack this problem before she was seriously disabled, and to see her thrive. And the fact that she wants to give back by working with special education students is remarkable.”