The Mellos family. From left: Calista, Sherri, Kaila and Peter Mellos.
When Calista Mellos was born 10 years ago, her parents, Sherri and Peter Mellos, knew something was wrong. Unlike the typical noisy baby, Calista didn't cry when she was hungry. She slept.
"We had to really work hard to wake her up," said Sherri Mellos. "We'd have to take all of her clothes off, put a fan on her, put cold washcloths on her, and constantly rub her feet and face to keep her awake long enough to eat."
As she grew into a toddler, Calista was slow to sit, to walk, and talk, and received therapy. At 4, she had her first grand mal seizure. Most mysteriously, Callista would often fall down events called "drop attacks."
Calista was diagnosed with epilepsy and put on medications. But the seizures and falls continued.
Now theres new hope for this San Diego family, delivered through the fast-growing science of genomics. Through a groundbreaking program at the Scripps Translational Science Institute in La Jolla, researchers sequenced and compared the genomes of Calista, her parents and her sister, Kaila.
Researchers discovered that Calista has a mutation causing a previously unknown form of epilepsy. The mutation affects the flow of potassium, important for neural function, and fluid balance. Using that information, a team of specialists assembled for Calista changed her medications and put her on a special diet.
It has taken months of trial and error, but Calista is noticeably better today, Sherri Mellos said. The drop attacks, which occurred up to 25 times a day, have virtually ceased. However, she still has some seizures and remains medically fragile.
Calista also became more lucid with her new regimen, says her pediatrician, Dr. Robert Bjork Jr.
"She began having periods that could last several hours when she was a perfectly normal child and you wouldn't know a thing was wrong with her," Bjork said. "She has a sense of humor and is much more capable in a lot of areas."
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Through genomics, parents find answers