Teen suffering from grand mal seizures gets medication after leaving New Orleans

Two local families are safe, and out of New Orleans.Terri and Ron Bryant and their children, Courtney, 16, and Spencer, 11, who have been trapped in New Orleans since hurricane Katrina struck the Gulf Coast last week, are in Arlington, Texas, waiting to complete the final leg of their journey home to Klamath Falls.

The family's final night in New Orleans was difficult."They spent the night at the Louis Armstrong Airport and they had no food or water," said Vicki Olin, Terri's sister. "They were just out on the walkway, the street you might say, all night."Saturday morning the family traveled to Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. A friend from Arlington, Texas, bought them clothes, picked them up and took them to his home where they were to spend the night Saturday.

Terri's supervisor, David Chabner, director of information services at Merle West Medical Center, is arranging flight plans to return the family to Klamath Falls, Olin said.Terri Bryant and her family were in New Orleans so Terri could attend a Medical Users Software Exchange conference. She is regional president of the group and is financial coordinator for information systems at Merle West Medical Center.More good news came about another Klamath Falls family.

Wanda Thomas' family, who had been missing in New Orleans for nearly a week, phoned her from the Astrodome in Houston.

"My kids are fine, and they're all in the Astrodome," Thomas said.Thomas's two daughters, Latasha, 26, and Shannel, 29, and their families had been in New Orleans for a few months while they sought neurological treatment for Thomas' 12-year-old granddaughter, Linika, who suffers from grand mal seizures.Since reaching Houston, Linika has been seen by a doctor and was able to get medication to control her seizures. Thomas's month-old granddaughter, who has Down syndrome, was taken to a hospital for observation.

But Thomas is still waiting for more news about other family members. She still has three sisters, nieces and nephews she hasn't heard from yet.