Woman will mark amazing 26th birthday
JEFFERSON TWP — “I can't believe my baby will be 26,”said Beverly Carr.
But the Saxonburg Road resident knows she's lucky to be able to celebrate daughter Amber McCreary's 26th birthday on Christmas Day.
Amber wasn't expected to live beyond her toddler years. She was diagnosed with lissencephaly, or smooth brain development, when she was 2 years old, about the age many children die from the disorder.
“She was born with it, but we didn't know until she was almost 2,” Carr said. “She started having seizures when she was 2.”
Carr said medications helped keep Amber's seizures under control, for a while.
At age 5, Amber could walk, talk and was a cheerleader for a youth football team.
But once Amber reached early adolescence, her seizures became more frequent, more severe and longer lasting.
“They could last for hours. There were times when she was placed in medically induced comas to get her out of seizures,” Carr said.
“We were calling 911 constantly to take her to (UPMC) Children's Hospital,” Carr said.
“Her surviving is an absolute miracle,” she said. “The seizures slowed down a little bit as she turned 20.”
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