A battle with Epilepsy grants 5 years old girl a wish!

A lot of people have seizures and don't even realize it. New research even suggests severe headaches can be linked to epilepsy.

Grand Mal Seizures are the ones that are hard to miss. It's a life-threatening moment in time that no parent wants to see their child go through.

Hali is a 5-year-old girl who lives in St. Anthony.

Jodi, Hali's mother: "Some people just grow out of it. At this point, we have no idea how she's going to respond in the future."

Some people are born with epilepsy. Hali didn't develop it until she was four. That's when she started having seizures every two to three seconds a day. The scariest part was when she had her first Grand Mal Seizure.

Jodi, Hali's Mother: "She screams before she has them then she locks her jaw. She stops breathing. She turns blue. Her eyes disappear into her head and she shakes out of control."
Jodi says it's hard to control her daughter's seizures. Hali hasn't had a major episode for a year now.

The medication she takes to regulate the sometimes abnormal electrical pulses in her brain has been working but there was a time her mother didn't think she'd live much longer, a possibility that always lingers.

Hali's most serious seizure lasted 45 minutes. She forgot how to walk, how to use the restroom on her own, and how to identify one color from the next. All are skills she has since been re-taught.

After living in a hospital for three months, Hali finally has a room she can call her own.
She recently went on a shopping spree fit for a princess. The red carpet rolled out and she was swept away in what Hali calls the "movie star car".

To top it off, a professional designer lent her expertise for free.

Jodi, Hali's mother: "To her this is a big deal - to have her own space, and she spends every moment that she can in her room, especially at the vanity!"

Hali, Make-a-Wish recipient. "It's beautiful, I love it."

Besides monetary contributions, you can help create magical experiences for Wish kids by donating things like frequent flier miles, building materials and new electronics.

Call 238-WISH or log onto www.idahowish.org for more information.