"I thought my son had a fever, but a day later, he died of a seizure"

Seven-year-old Liam Allen had undiagnosed epilepsy and the night before, her mother gave her medicine to lower her fever. However, the next day, he would lose his life due to a seizure. This is his story.

Paula , her mother, told The Sun  newspaper that the day before the tragic event, Liam was in perfect health from school and had even had her picture taken.

That morning, Liam had felt a little bad, but in the afternoon his teachers told his mom that he had been absolutely fine.

That night he slept well, but the next morning a school manager told him that his son had been ill and was shivering.

That afternoon passed normally, but around 9:30 at night, Paula checked it again and discovered that it had a temperature, but what she never imagined was that it would be a sign of the disease that would take her child's life .

"I checked him again and he had a fever. I gave him some Calpol," Paula said.

However, minutes later, her husband entered the little boy's room, and told him that it was time for bed. She went to the bathroom to brush her teeth and when she came out she discovered that her son's right arm was shaking and foam was coming out of his mouth.

"I thought the seizures were where they fell to the ground, jerked for a couple of seconds, and then returned to normal," he explained.

Immediately, he was taken to the hospital, where doctors tried to stop the seizure for three hours and, after not being successful, he had a medically induced coma.

He was transferred to another hospital for further treatment in the Intensive Care Unit, but the doctors were unable to do anything, and unfortunately Liam no longer woke up.

For this reason, the mother of five children seeks to raise awareness about epilepsy, a condition that Liam was diagnosed with after her autopsy.

Paula also said that her three-year-old son Rory also has this disorder, and every time she notices an unexplained high temperature, she knows it is a sign that she should never ignore.

"There is a bit of naivete, I think a lot of people think the same thing. I never thought they could die from it [epilepsy attacks]," he said.

Following Liam's diagnosis, Paula discovered that her son had his first seizure at school in May 2018, when he did not respond for an hour and was knocked unconscious during a car trip to the hospital.

The second was in March 2019, in a supermarket parking lot because, this time, Liam did not respond for 45 minutes before falling unconscious and struggling to breathe.

His third and final attack occurred late that year, when David , his father, found him shaking and foaming at the mouth, just a day after his generation photo from school.

Now devastated parents are alerting others to learn enough about seizures to catch the warning signs of the disease early.

"There are many types of seizures, not just falling to the ground and shaking. People should not take them for granted, the temperature has a lot to do with many seizures. I never thought that a fever would be so dangerous," he concluded.

Mayo Clinic describes epilepsy as a disorder of the central nervous system in which brain activity becomes abnormal, causing seizures or periods of unusual behaviors or sensations, and sometimes loss of consciousness.

Because it occurs due to abnormal brain activity, it can cause the following symptoms :

1.  Temporary confusion.

2.  Episodes of absences.

3.  Uncontrollable spasmodic movements of the arms and legs.

4.  Loss of consciousness or consciousness.

5.  Psychic symptoms, such as fear, anxiety od éjà vu.

Although the signs vary by type of seizure, in most cases, a person will tend to have the same type of seizure at home episode, so symptoms will be similar from one episode to another.

Experts point out that having a seizure does not mean that a person has this condition, as at least two unprovoked seizures are generally required to determine a diagnosis of this disorder.

Although rare, their complications are life-threatening and can cause:

1. Epileptic state:  occurs when you are in a state of continuous seizure activity that lasts more than five minutes, or if you have recurrent and frequent seizures and do not fully regain consciousness between them.

2. Sudden unexpected death in epilepsy:  Although the cause is unknown, some research suggests that it may occur due to cardiac or respiratory disorders.

In most people with it, treatment with medications or sometimes surgery can control seizures.

However, some patients require lifelong treatment to control seizures, while others eventually disappear.

According to the organization, some children with epilepsy can overcome the disease with age.

See also:

What is epilepsy, the disease that caused the death of Cameron Boyce

If your baby moves like this, he could be suffering infantile spasms

FDA investigates whether e-cigarettes cause seizures