Girl faces having half her brain removed in epilepsy battle
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A FIVE-YEAR-OLD girl faces having half of her brain removed in a last-ditch attempt to treat her epilepsy.Millie MacKenzie will have to have the lifeline surgery because she has up to 19 seizures a day.
It's a bid to free her from the extreme form of epilepsy she has.
Millie uses a wheelchair, cannot talk and attends a special school.
But the operation - known as a hemispherectomy - could give her the chance to lead a more normal life.
Millie - diagnosed with the common neurological condition when she was only six weeks old - will be one of the youngest Scots ever to have the surgery.
It is strictly reserved for extreme cases where seizures have not responded to drugs and other surgical techniques.
And parents Mark and Kelly Mackenzie told of their shock when doctors first proposed the radical surgery.
Kelly, 37, said: "When we were first told, we just said no way. We were not willing to have something so invasive done.
"But we realised that we were being selfish and that this series of operations could actually help Millie.
"She will have more than a quarter of her brain removed first of all - which gives her just a 30 per cent chance of being free from seizures."
The operation will be carried out at Great Ormond Street Hospital in London.
Kelly added: "Doctors have let us know that there is a real chance that this won't work and then she will have half of her brain surgically removed. It is like they are taking part of my little girl away to help her.
"We have been waiting for so long to have this procedure carried out that millions of fears cross your mind.
"We are hoping that if the surgery works and she is free from seizures, she will be able to retain information and it will hopefully improve her quality of life.
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