Charlie’s Story: The Ketogenic Diet and Epilepsy

Charlie is a son of the famous American film director Jim Abrahams. When Charlie was one year old, he had numerous daily seizures. No medication for epilepsy helped, and he had also had an unsuccessful brain surgery. But everything changed when he came to Johns Hopkins Hospital, where he was cured of his epilepsy by the ketogenic diet. The diet was undertaken despite resistance from the five pediatric neurologists he had seen.

When Charlie’s parents realized that Charlie was but one of hundreds of thousands of children whose families were either not being informed, or being misinformed about dietary therapy, they started in 1994 The Charlie Foundation in order to raise awareness about the ketogenic diet as a treatment for childhood epilepsy.

 

Charlie’s Speech

On April 2, 2008 Charlie Abrahams, whose epilepsy had been cured by the ketogenic diet, addressed an audience of over 300 scientists, neurologists, dietitians, and nurses at the first “International Symposium on Dietary Therapy for Epilepsy and Other Neurological Disorders.” He presented an award to Millicent Kelly, R.D. the Johns Hopkins dietitian who taught his family the diet.

 

See Also:

…First Do No Harm

Ketogenic Diet: A Treatment for Epilepsy

 

Ketogenic Diet: A Treatment for Epilepsy

You might have heard the term “brain food” used to describe food that’s good for you. Doctors at Mayo Clinic say there really is a diet that benefits the brain. But this diet is not for everybody. It’s for kids who have epilepsy, and it’s based on extremely high fats and very few carbs. More on how the ketogenic diet is helping some kids with epilepsy become seizure free.

Video from Mayo Clinic, USA

 

…First Do No Harm

This is a 1997 television film, directed by Jim Abrahams, about a boy whose severe epilepsy, unresponsive to medications with terrible side effects, is controlled by the ketogenic diet. Aspects of the story mirror Abrahams’ own experience with his son Charlie.

When Lori Reimuller learns that her young son Robbie has epilepsy, she first trusts the judgment of the hospital staff in how best to bring it under control. As Robbie’s health slides radically downhill, however, she becomes frustrated and desperate, and so does her own research into the existing literature on treatments. When she decides to try the ketogenic diet, devised long ago by a doctor from Johns Hopkins, she is met with narrow-minded resistance from Robbie’s doctor, who is prepared to take legal action to prevent Lori from removing him from the hospital. This movie is an indictment of those in the medical profession who discuss only the treatment options they favor. Several of the minor characters are portrayed by people who have been not just helped, but cured by the ketogenic diet. Read More

See Also: 

Charlie’s Story: The Ketogenic Diet and Epilepsy

Ketogenic Diet: A Treatment for Epilepsy

High-Fat Ketogenic Diet Effectively Treats Persistent Childhood Seizures