Our family lived a normal life until Thursday, July 13 2023, when everything changed for our son, Harrison. While getting ready for Vacation Bible School, Harrison suffered a seizure and was taken by ambulance to the emergency room in Columbus. He came to and we were seconds away from discharge when he had another one. They could not get him out. He had a nine-minute seizure and had to be life-flighted to Scottish Rite in Atlanta. Since then, Harrison has endured 40 to 60 tonic-clonic seizures every month. We tried 12 different medications, countless MRIs, spinal taps, steroid infusions, IVIG treatments, and immune suppressants, but nothing brought relief. After a year of working with doctors in Atlanta and a doctor in private practice, we were referred to Boston Children’s Hospital. After 3 trips to Boston and a year of tests, Harrison was diagnosed with NORSE epilepsy—a rare, new and challenging condition with a difficult prognosis. Seizure freedom may not be possible for Harrison, but there is one hope: a DBS implant. While DBS is common among adults with movement disorders, Boston Children's has performed around a dozen of these procedures for pediatric patients battling uncontrolled seizures. They have found it may reduce seizures by 40 to 70%.

Throughout this journey, we have relied on a Share Ministry health coverage, as we have not had traditional insurance. Now, our coverage maximum is imminent, and we are facing the reality that we need help now to give Harrison a chance at life outside the hospital. The funds raised will go directly toward the DBS implant and the recurring trips to Boston needed to adjust the device to the therapeutic level. This is our best hope to give Harrison a better quality of life and more time doing the things he loves, outside of medical care. The two things he has told us about it all is that he loves Jesus and he misses his friends.

Our church, Edgewood Baptist Columbus GA has a Designated Benevolence Fund that is tax deductible, set up for Harrison. You can find it in the Drop Down Menu(Douglas Family Medical Fund) in this link: https://www.edgewoodga.com/onlinegiving . Be sure to use the Drop Down Link labeled "Douglas Family Medical Fund". 

We are so thankful for our family, friends, and even those we don’t know who are willing to help. We would much rather have a normal life, but this is where God, who is in control, has us right now. We have carried this burden as long as we could, and now our resources are running low. We don’t like asking for help, but we truly need it. Any support you can give means the world to us and brings us closer to giving Harrison the life he deserves. With love and hope, Adam, Beth and Harrison