What It’s All About

On Christmas Eve, when Malia was two years old, epilepsy barged into our lives without warning. One moment, she was our wild, happy toddler. The next, she was collapsing—seizures coming one after another, with no explanation and no easy answers. We spent a week at Randalls Children’s Hospital, running test after test, trying medication after medication, hoping something would make it stop. Nothing worked. - For years, we lived in the unknown. No trigger, no pattern, no way to predict when the next seizure would come. We adjusted, our new normal had began, a rythem, and everything felt manageable.

Six years later, we got a piece to the puzzle: A genetic mutation called DEPDC5— rare and barely researched. But, aligned with her learning struggles, late child development milestones, and seizure presentation. It was an answer but added no solution.

Then, just before Christmas this year, everything changed again. Epilepsy threw us another curveball. Different seizures. Different symptoms. And after trying eight medications with no success, we were left with one reality: medicine wasn’t going to fix this. Now, we’re looking at the next steps with specialists at Seattle Children’s, trying to figure out what comes next- for her, for us.

But this blog? This isn’t just about the medical side of things. It’s about our family—how we’ve adapted, how we’ve found joy in the middle of the chaos, and how we’re figuring this out in real-time. It’s about Malia’s incredible big sister, Nakaia, who has been her protector from day one. It’s about summers on the river, movie nights that somehow always end in a gas station candy raid, and all the little things that make life, life—even when epilepsy tries to take center stage.

I created this space because I wish it had existed when we were first thrown into this world. The things I wish I knew, the products and resources that actually help, the reality of what this journey looks like—this is where I’ll share it. So whether you’re here for advice, for a story that sounds familiar, or just to follow along, welcome. We’re in this together.