Little girl fights against seizures

There are fewer things more precious than the life of a child. No one knows that more than Shannon and Rand Olson of Lakeville. "Every second we get," Shannon says of her 1-year-old daughter McKenna, "is a miracle." McKenna Olson is a victim of Alpers' Disease.

A rare degenerative brain disease that attacks the gray matter. There is NO cure.McKenna was diagnosed with the disease just two weeks after her brother Drew died from it - five days shy of his second birthday."I think of him all the time," Shannon said, "every day not a second goes by that I don't miss him."The disease is very rare and very cruel.

When it strikes it does so in seizures. McKenna had her first bout with seizures three months ago while on a vacation in California. She was life-flighted back to Minnesota while in a drug induced coma. Since the seizures the Olson's know McKenna's days are numbered. "We do still hope," Shannon says, "that's all we have." To see McKenna today is to see a beautiful 13-month-old girl. She loves to play, to giggle, and to give big hugs to her big brother Cameron.

McKenna is the only child in the family now to suffer from Alpers'. Her parents and brother are silent carriers of the gene, but, none of them have the disease.Shannon says since the 1930's when Alpers' was discovered only about one hundred cases have been reported. The cruelty that two of those are her babies in almost too much to bear. "It's not fun anymore," Shannon says, "life isn't fun. It's a job. I have to be a doctor, a nurse and a mom. I'm not qualified for all of that."

McKenna's family also has to deal with the financial end of this nightmare. Her life flight home from California was more than $20,000. Shannon stays home now and doesn't work because McKenna needs constant care. Rand, McKenna's dad, works full time for Qwest."I have to be here," Shannon says, "because I don't know when she's going to not be here anymore." For informaton on a fund to help McKenna, click here.