Worthing mum ‘so grateful’ for fundraiser donations after two-year-old suffers three-hour seizure

Kirstie Wilson said she was ‘so grateful’ after friends and family helped her beat her fundraising target in just four hours, enabling her to buy a special bed mat to help three-year-old Sienna-Sky, who was recently diagnosed with epilepsy.

“I couldn’t believe it,” said Kirstie, 35, of Belsize Road. “It just made me realise I have such a great support network of friends and family around me.”

Kirstie launched the fundraiser after Sienna fell ill ‘out of the blue’ a few weeks ago.

The pair had been enjoying a day out shopping in Brighton, along with Kirstie’s eight-month-old baby Violet, when they stopped for some food in Burger King.

They had just sat down when Sienna began ‘flopping’ on the chair.

Kirstie knew something was seriously wrong when Sienna became ‘unresponsive, foaming at the mouth and shaking’.

Realising she was having a seizure, Kirstie said: “I can’t even describe it. I was so worried. I had never seen it before.”

She said no one in Burger King came to help them, but fortunately an ambulance arrived ‘within seconds’ of her calling 999. “It was so quick,” she said.

Sienna was rushed to the Royal Sussex Hospital in Brighton.

Her seizure ended up lasting three hours, and she suffered paralysis on the left-side of her body for three days.

She was diagnosed with epilepsy on February 1 and given medication, as well as emergency medication to take if she had another seizure.

But Kirstie was concerned about what would happen if Sienna suffered another seizure at night. “I was really quite worried about her,” she said. “I wasn’t sleeping. It was awful.”

She decided to set up a fundraising page in order to help her buy a bed time mat, which will alert her if Sienna has involuntary movements for more than 15 seconds, as well as two cameras – one for her bedroom and one for a play room – so that kirstie can keep an eye on her.

The total of £550 was raised within just four hours. “People were just amazing, it was so quick,” she Kirstie, who also has a 16-year-old son called Bradley.

She said of the equipment: “It’s put me at ease so much. It’s improved my life so much.”

Sienna has full use of her left side again now and the family are adjusting to life with her new diagnosis.

She celebrated her third birthday on February 11 with a little tea party at home. “I made it as special as I could,” Kirstie said.

She wanted to say thank you to everyone who donated, as well as the ambulance crew and the hospital who she said were ‘amazing’.

“I can’t thank them enough for what they’ve done,” she said.

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