Sleeping beauty wide awake

Charlotte's parents are delighted she has become more than a handful. Photo / Wanganui Chronicle

Charlotte Parkes was diagnosed with a rare form of epilepsy as a baby. She slept and slept. But now, this daddy's girl is 4 years old and has made a miracle recovery.

"Our little sleeping beauty woke up and had been replaced by an energiser bunny that goes 100km/h," said her father, Andrew Parkes.

Mum Sheryl Rush said she knew from when Charlotte was three months old that her little girl was sleeping too much.

Visits to the doctor became more regular, but each time they were told that children develop at their own speed.

When Charlotte was about 15 months old she could not hold her head up or hold a bottle, eat any kind of solids and seemed excessively tired. And those symptoms were accompanied by some jerking movements.

Another local doctor referred her to paediatricians at Wanganui Hospital.

But before she could keep that appointment, she suffered a massive seizure at creche and was taken to hospital. That's when the family's real journey began, in October 2007.

Charlotte was diagnosed with a rare form of epilepsy called Wests syndrome, more commonly known as infantile spasms. She began a two-week drug treatment requiring daily injections with constant monitoring and tests.

"It was the longest two weeks of mine and Andrew's life. The injections made Charlotte irritable and miserable and she never slept."

But then, the miracle began. Within a week Charlotte could hold her own bottle and tolerate solids. She began crawling and, at 19 months, walking.

In February last year Charlotte got access to funding for a speech therapist and a teacher's aide.

"We've made progress and you can't stop her talking now, even if she is a little hard to understand," Sheryl said.

"She constantly reminds us of what is really important in this world. The little things like hearing her say 'No' so assertively."