Littleton Firefighter Foundation - Donation Recipients

Susan Ecklund

My young and beautiful wife Susan (age 33) developed symptoms mid January of this year. Her symptoms were first noticed by her 6 year old when he mentioned to that her hand writing was messy. She began to lose fine motor skill in her right hand accompanied by a "twitch" in her right pinky finger.

While on a family vacation at the end of January her "twitch" had worsened to a continuous seizure in her right arm and complete loss a fine motor skill in her right hand. Upon return to Denver we decided to take her in to ER where they ran multiple tests including a cat scan and MRI. The scans showed multiple lesions on Susan's brain. Initially the lesions were diagnosed as strokes and Susan was admitted to the hospital for 5 days for treatment and further evaluation.

Following the hospital stay we sought a second opinion with another neurologist who diagnosed the lesions as tumors. The seizure in Susan's right arm was happening every two seconds even while she slept and continued for four weeks until the right combination of anti-seizure meds were found. With a difference of opinion between two teams of doctors as to the origin of the lesions we sought a third opinion from the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, MN. Because of the generosity of family, friends and Angel Flight we were able to make the trip to Minnesota where we spent a week. Unfortunately, we came back from Minnesota without a diagnosis and an opinion that the lesions were neither tumors nor a stroke.

We knew at this point that whatever Susan has, it is very rare. The weeks and months following have brought both good news and bad. The lesion that was causing the focal seizure in her right arm has completely corrected itself and the use of her hand back. However, she has developed new continuous seizures in her left leg, face, eye and throat. All investigative efforts to diagnose the lesions have been exhausted except a very risky biopsy. Susan is currently on multiple anti-seizure meds and she has both good days and bad. Her case has been presented at the national neurological conference and multiple specialists here in Colorado and around the country without any forward progress.

We are still confident that we will resolve her condition and bring normalcy back to her life. We can't begin to thank my brothers and sisters at the fire department for their overwhelming thoughtfulness, generosity and support. We are truly lucky to be a part of this family.

With sincere gratitude,

The Ecklunds