Author: Amy Denis, Guest Contributor
Mary Wood (left) embraced by Amy Denis
Mary is an 11 year old twin and lives in the beautiful Adirondack Mountains in upstate New York. She loves to play Fortnite, go fishing and LOVES MUSIC!
Mary is named after my best friend that was killed in a motorcycle accident a month before I got pregnant through IVF treatments. Right when she was born, her blood sugar kept dropping and wouldn’t even register on the Accu-Check machine.
Mary ended up suffering three brain bleeds and the low glucose impacted her brain function. She spent six weeks in the neo-natal intensive care unit (NICU) with multiple surgeries and seizures that would stop her breathing.
Luckily her brain stopped bleeding but the doctors didn’t have much hope that she would even be able to talk. She was sent home on a feeding tube and a lot of medications. That was the start of Mary’s life and as a family we have fought epilepsy and seizures every day for years.
Mary’s seizures have increased quite a bit in the last year because of hormones and she ended up in the emergency room. She was diagnosed severely anemic and now takes iron.
Mary is the is the toughest, happiest kid I know. Music has always gotten us through the hard times especially 2020 which has been hard on us all.
Since quarantining and COVID-related precautions are keeping us all apart, music is bringing us all back together!
We started posting video’s on Facebook of us singing just to make other people smile. Mary dreams of being on stage with Luke Combs and singing to an audience. She just had the privilege to sing live in the UK on BBC radio with Adam Ball. She was so excited!
Music is therapy and happiness to the soul. We hope you’ll check out our videos and check back often for more…let us brighten your day!
Purple Day Every Day’s Jim Merse asked me why is it so important that we raise awareness about epilepsy every single day. My answer is simple: More people need to be talking about epilepsy every day of the year so that together we can make a change. Epilepsy awareness could save someone’s life. It also raises funds for research and treatments that improve quality of life. If we’re not talking and being our own advocates – or the advocates for those we care for and love – then who will?