From left: Emily’s brother Joey, Emily, mother Barbara Beasley and father Doug Beasley.

Emily Beasley was a typical 6-year-old. Precocious yet shy, she was learning to read, loved to dance and enjoyed playing with friends.

Everything changed suddenly one night, as she stood in her family’s kitchen.

Her parents noticed her staring with a blank expression. Her lips moved, but she wasn’t speaking. She didn’t move and lost control of her bladder.

“That was the exact moment when everything changed,” said Doug Beasley, her father.

Emily recuperated over summer vacation, but when school started again, there more problems. She had a “rather large” seizure at school one day, her mother said, leading to a brief hospital stay.

Unfortunately, the seizures kept coming and medication wasn’t working. She suffered brain damage and severe cognitive impairments.

“She was perfectly normal, then she went from being a 6-year-old to basically a 3-year-old, practically overnight,” Doug Beasley said. (more…)