2005 Kids Speak Up! Participant Biography

Laura Mackay

Age: 17
Grade: 11
Pass Christian, Mississippi

Laura is strong-minded, independent young woman who was diagnosed with epilepsy at 9 months old. Typically she experienced seizures 20 times a day. One year, her seizures caused her to miss an entire semester of school.

Desperate to find an effective treatment, Laura and her parents experimented with numerous medications. Some had damaging side effects which caused her to have to stay in the intensive care unit of the hospital.

Today, despite her trials, she is seizure-free. Laura is anxious to participate in Kids Speak Up! to advocate for children who reside in underserved areas. Living in a small town, Laura is familiar with driving to another state to receive medical treatment. She believes that all state hospitals should have a neurological department that specializes in epilepsy care.

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