3-year-old with severe epilepsy is looking for an alert dog

REEDSBURG, Wis. (WMTV) - At just 3 years old, Naledi Splittgerber has suffered more than ten seizures.

“It’s just really scary, seeing your child have a seizure for 45 minutes and having to continue to give them medicine, over and over again,” her mother Melissa Splittgerber said. “It’s horrifying,”

Melissa, who calls her daughter “Ledi,” points to the Dravet Syndrome, an uncurable and rare genetic disorder. She said Ledi has been hospitalized nine times, between her first seizure at 3 months old and her latest one last month.

Some seizures were from swimming and others from jumping on a trampoline, Melissa said.

She added, because of the disorder, playtime is often cut short: “Being tired, being too hot, getting sick, getting overexerted, any of those are triggers.”

Her family is now looking for additional help. Ledi needs a caretaker, in what her mother says is an understaffed industry, as well as a service dog to alert family during a seizure.

“We can feel a little relief of not being in the room with her while I’m cooking supper and not being like, ‘Oh, I haven’t heard from her in two minutes.’” she said.

Melissa said the biggest obstacle was finding a dog with enough training to help with Ledi’s specific kind of epilepsy, which results in seizures much longer than the more common ones. To come out of the seizures, Ledi also needs medication.

Her family now hopes to connect to anyone with information on navigating the search for a watchful eye.

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