JACKSON, MI – Four-year-old Ellie Stevenson’s diet differs from a typical kid her age.
Her plate is usually full of ingredients that have been weighed to the exact gram to ensure she’s eating the precise ratio of protein, fat and carbs. This is because her meals are essential to preventing seizures from epilepsy.
Before this, Ellie would have anywhere between one to 10 seizures a day. But, after following the ketogenic diet at C.S. Mott Children’s Hospital for nearly a year, she’s celebrating almost nine months of being seizure free.
“She’s just blossomed, she’s returned to her normal self and then just kind of kept going,” Ellie’s mom Katrina Stevenson said. “She has become so much more social, energetic.”
Ellie was diagnosed with epilepsy in 2022. Katrina was getting ready for work, when she went to check on Ellie in her room and found her asleep on the floor. She, and Ellie’s dad Greg Stevenson, checked the camera in her room and saw that Ellie had had a seizure and collapsed onto the ground.
“It came out of nowhere,” Katrina said.
The family went to the hospital emergency room where electroencephalogram monitoring was done. Eventually, the family was referred to Mott, where Ellie was diagnosed with epilepsy with myoclonic-atonic seizures, or EMAtS, Greg said.
From there, Ellie was prescribed medications, which helped a little, but ultimately didn’t work, Katrina said, adding she was also fitted for a helmet and face shield, so she could stop “hurting that sweet little face,” but it didn’t allow the independence a child her age needed.
So, doctors suggested they try something different — the ketogenic diet. The family had open ears. Ellie was admitted to the hospital, where they family began to work with pediatric epilepsy dietitian Jwana Al Mulki.
“We felt like we exhausted all other options with Ellie, and we got to the point where really the ketogenic diet was our last resort,” Al Mulki said.
The ketogenic diet is very high in fat, moderate in protein and low in carbs, she said. Meals look different based on the ratios prescribed to patients, but it often consists of butter, cream and avocados, as well as limited…