On March 11, 1993, I was pushing my 1-year-old son, Charlie, in a swing when his head twitched and he threw his right arm in the air. The whole event was so subtle that I didn’t even think to mention it to my wife, Nancy, until a couple days later when it recurred. She said she had seen similar incidents. That was the beginning of an agony I am without words to describe.
Nine months later, after thousands of seizures, an incredible array of drugs, dozens of blood draws, eight hospitalizations, a mountain of EEGs, MRIs, CAT scans, and PET scans, one fruitless brain surgery, five pediatric neurologists in three cities, two homeopaths, one faith healer, and countless prayers, Charlie’s epilepsy was unchecked, his development “delayed,” and he had a prognosis of continued seizures and “progressive retardation.”
Then, in December 1993, we learned about the ketogenic diet and the success that Dr. John Freeman, Millicent Kelly, RD, and Diana Pillas had been having with it at Johns Hopkins Hospital as a treatment for children with difficult-to-control epilepsy. We took Charlie to Johns Hopkins. He started the diet. Charlie was seizure- and drug-free within a month. Today, he is a happy, healthy, 18-year-old high school senior. He eats whatever he wants, has no recollection of his epilepsy, and has very little memory of his 5 years of diet therapy.
Back in 1994, when we realized that a vast majority of Charlie’s seizures and most of his $100,000 of medical, surgical, and drug treatments were unnecessary—even harmful—we founded The Charlie Foundation To Help Cure Pediatric Epilepsy in order to help promote and increase the diet’s usage. Among other efforts, we supported the first edition of The Epilepsy Diet Treatment.
Today, though the mechanisms of diet therapy remain the same, the diet itself has grown in accessibility, palatability, understanding, and popularity almost as much as the now 6’1” Charlie has grown in height. Due in large measure to the earlier editions of this book, many of the myths that impeded my family, and so many others, from awareness and access to diet treatment have been dispelled—leading to a ground swell of patient and parent knowledge and empowerment. Most importantly, this has led to thousands of healthier children.
It is our continued hope that Ketogenic Diets—Treatments for Epilepsy and Other Disorders—Fifth Edition will help others decide whether the diet is a viable alternative to their current treatment.
And we know this book will be an invaluable guide once diet therapy has begun.
Jim Abrahams, Director
The Charlie Foundation to Help Cure Pediatric Epilepsy