Keto Stories

Tim’s Story – “First Do No Harm”

In April, 1971 my three year old son had a grand mal seizure. In the next four months we took him to six hospitals, 21 doctors, and he had 38 drug combinations. He was having between 150 and 200 seizures a day. He spent the last two and a half months at Pres-St. Lukes in Chicago in intensive care. I was almost praying Tim would die instead of living his life as a grossly impaired person with this problem. I went to the University of Illinois library and read for weeks. I got a copy of Johns Hopkins book about the ketogenic diet. I called Baltimore and they told me to come right away. I tried to take him out of the hospital, but they would not let me transfer him from Pres-St. Lukes. He was on valium I.V. and eight other drugs. With the help of a nurse and a retired doctor I stole Tim from the hospital. We got on a commercial flight to Baltimore. Wasn’t sure if he’d live to see Baltimore. He was seizing every half to three quarters of an hour. We went to the Livingston Clinic at Johns Hopkins, three days of starvation, went on the ketogenic diet. A PURE MIRACLE. Tim is 41 and has not had another seizure since that trip to Baltimore. He was on the diet for two years. He is a smart, handsome, successful man. If I had this to do all over again, I don’t know if I could. It financially devastated us. My husband lost his job. My two other children were virtually abandoned by my husband and me. The neighbors helped by taking the other kids, filling the freezer and most of all their prayers. At the time I thought that we were the only family in the world going through this ordeal, today I see there are so many others. I pray they don’t give up hope. Connie Intermittee Marengo, Illinois Note: The story of this young man is depicted in the movie “First Do No Harm”, written, directed and produced by Jim Abrahams.