'Stroll for Epilepsy' walk sheds light on young girl's struggle

HOUSTON, Texas (KTRK) -- Hundreds of people poured into the Houston Zoo Saturday for the annual "Stroll for Epilepsy," a walk benefiting the Epilepsy Foundation of Texas. Among them was 8-year-old Morgan Johnson, whose personal struggle with epilepsy led her to get involved in the cause.

"She can't do anything by herself," said her mom, Latasha Jackson. "We've had seizures in the bathroom, we've had seizures in the shower, we've had seizures walking from the car."

Morgan was seven when her mom first started noticing the seizures and she was diagnosed with epilepsy.

"It was a shock because she was a perfectly normal child," said Jackson. "Almost the moment I noticed it, they started coming back to back. She was having about 20 seizures a day."

Since October, Morgan has been having seizures every day. Earlier this year, the seizures got particularly intense.

"She was having seizures every five to ten minutes," said Jackson. "Before we got to the hospital, she had 20 in an hour."

Since her diagnosis, Morgan has been in and out of the hospital four times. Although doctors have not been able to identify where in the brain the seizures are starting, Morgan has been able to reduce her medication from four to just two.

"We're not completely seizure free but we're believing that we will be there," said Jackson.