Surgery gives Jacksonville boy with epilepsy a new shot

JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — A Jacksonville teen is back on the tennis court, months after doctors separated part of his brain.

On the tennis court, Sean Villanueva is a fierce competitor.  The 13-year-old serves up as many catch phrases as shots.

But as hard as Sean works on the court, it’s his toughness off of it that’s unmatched.

At birth, doctors noticed twitching in Sean’s right arm.

He’d suffered a stroke in the womb.  It knocked out the left side of his brain and made the right side of his body weak.

Sean spent the first three weeks of his life in the neonatal intensive care unit at Nemours.

“Why is this happening to us?” Sean’s mother, Rosette Villanueva said she asked herself.  “When he was born, I was, like, ‘What have I done wrong?'”

The years to follow brought daily seizures-- a lasting result of the stroke.

“He would just freeze and start drooling, and after that for a couple seconds, maybe a minute or so,” Rosette Villanueva said.  “I hoped it was just me that was in that position, not him.”

Desperate to improve his long-term quality of life, Sean's family again looked to Nemours.

Dr. Raj Sheth is the chief of neurology there.

“We--in our epilepsy surgery conference--decided that probably disconnecting the damaged parts of brain that were not really causing any function in him, but were causing all the seizures to occur, would be the best thing to help him with this,” Sheth said.  “We were able to disconnect those regions from the rest of the brain so that the seizures wouldn’t spread down that pathway.”

The procedure had its risks.

“I thought that we made the wrong decision,” Rosette Villanueva said.

Sean’s family waited on pins and needles.

“I feel like I died that day,” Rosette Villanueva said. “I was just waiting. Oh my God, 8.5 hours of waiting. It was terrifying for me.”

But Sean made it through.

He was up walking around four days after surgery, and was back on the tennis court one week after being discharged from the hospital.

“[The doctors] were, like, ‘A week after you went home and you’re playing?!” said Sean’s father, Oscar Villanueva.  “So that was nice, that was nice.”

Sean’s procedure was in July.  His family is hoping this is his first Christmas seizure-free.

Today, Sean is still limited on his right side.  Doctors hope that improves with time and physical therapy.

Regardless, Sean isn't slowing down.

“I’m still practicing on serving,” Sean said.  “That’s kind of hard because my right hand is weak, and that’s why I only play with my left hand.”

So he’ll keep working, as living proof that whatever life sends your way, you face it, and send it right back.

“He’s here with us, and every day, we just cherish it,” Rosette Villanueva said.  “We are blessed, so blessed.”

Cox Media Group