Tukino's seizures under control

Tukino Kilkelly, 3, and his mum Brenda have had a rough journey since he was diagnosed with epilepsy last July. Photo/Stephen Parker

The past few months have been a tough journey for the Kilkelly family - but things are starting to look up.

In July last year their world changed when 3-year-old Tukino had a seizure. The family knew little about epilepsy prior to the seizure, and at first hoped it may have been a one off.

But it wasn't. The toddler had numerous seizures of different types and was rushed to hospital on several occasions including a stint in Rotorua Hospital's intensive care unit as they tried to get the seizures under control.

Today he's been seizure free for about five months thanks to a combination of medication that seems to be working well for Tukino.

Mum Brenda said it had been a hard road since the initial seizure but they were hopeful he'd grow out of it.

The type of epilepsy he has means he has several different types of seizures - including the tonic-clonic seizures and other ones where he jerks and falls down.

After being diagnosed the family had to learn about what to do during seizures, and educate extended family, neighbourhood friends and his kohanga reo about what to do if he had a seizure - something which Mrs Kilkelly said Epilepsy New Zealand had been great with.

They tried not to stop him from doing the things he did before and Tukino was now back at kohanga reo by himself, and was playing Rippa Rugby this season. The only task he might be stopped from doing was driving, if the seizures continued when he was older.

Wednesday is International Epilepsy Awareness Day and Rotorua will be holding a Purple Walk to raise awareness.

The walk will leave from the Central Mall at 4pm, with people asked to gather from 3.45pm.