Edyth "Edie" Ellen Brooks 1966-1976

Written by Edie’s Mother, Bunnie Brooks

Our daughter, Edyth Ellen Brooks, whom we called Edie, was born on April 25,1966 and departed this world on March 24, 1976, one month before her 10th birthday.

Until 1971 she appeared to be an active, healthy child with the exception of the normal childhood illnesses. In 1971 we noticed that Edie would go into a trance for just a few seconds once in a while, we were living in Ft. Worth at the time. By the time we moved to Amarillo in 1972 these short trances seemed to happen more frequently, so we became established with a local pediatrician and he recommended that we have her checked by a by a doctor specializing in neuro-muscular diseases.

After running tests, he determined that Edie was having petimal seizures and he recommended that she be put on Peridione. This medication seemed to control her seizures. But, as time went on, we noticed that some times during the night when we would check on her, she would be sleeping with her eyelids half closed. I mentioned this to her pediatrician, but he didn't feel there was any reason for concern.

During the summer of 1974, we were in the kitchen and Edie started having problems with her facial muscles and her eyes. I rushed her to her pediatrician and he immediately admitted her to the hospital and notified her neurologist so that he could run tests. Her neurologist decided that her problem was psychosomatic and we should take her to a child psychologist. This didn't set well with us, so we asked that another doctor run tests for a second opinion. The second neurologist gave Edie a tensilon test and from the results it was determined that she had Myasthenia Gravis. We were told that there was no cure but that there was medicine to help control the disease. She was taken off the Peridione for her seizures and given Mestinon. Later, we learned that the Peridione could have been a factor in bringing on her Myasthenia Gravis. Several doctors felt that Edie probably would have had Myasthenia Gravis later in life but that the Peridione could have brought it on sooner.

Edie was able to get along fairly well on the Mestinon, but in November of 1974, just before Thanksgiving, she was terribly congested from a cold and was put in the hospital. She just couldn't seem to get better, so just before Christmas, her doctor decided that she needed to be seen by a specialist in Houston, Dr. Bernard Patten.

Dr. Patten ran a battery of tests and he agreed that Edie not only had Myasthenia Gravis but she also had a disease that was breaking down her immune system, I can't recall the name, and they were also suspicious of Lupus, but were never able to confirm it. Dr. Patten admitted Edie to Methodist Hospital in Houston so that Dr. Crawford could be the surgeon for her thymectomy. After several weeks, he felt that she was ready for surgery. And thank the dear Lord, she came through the surgery with very few problems.

We returned to Amarillo the first part of February. Through this whole ordeal of nearly two and a half months, we never heard many complaints from Edie. She went through all the confinement, tests and surgery with great courage and determination. We were home only a few days when she asked to return to school and her friends. We were concerned that she may be rushing things, but much to our amazement she was able to catch up on her schoolwork and finish the year with the rest of her classmates. Her medical regime was Mestinon every day, Prednisone every other day, potassium every day and a gamma globulin shot once a month.

Every three or four months, we would take her to Dr. Patten for a check up. In between visits to Dr. Patten, her pediatrician here took care of her with advise from Dr. Patten. Just after Christmas in 1975, Edie was admitted to the hospital for congestion and she was too weak to cough it up. After a few days of being suctioned, antibiotics and respiratory therapy she returned home and a few days after that, felt well enough to return to school.

In March of 1976, Edie came down with the flu and went into a respiratory crisis. Due to being suctioned so much, her throat swelled shut, by the time they got a trac tube down her throat, she had gone into a coma. She was moved to ICU and put on life support and five days later, God saw that she had suffered enough and took her in His care.

Because of our loss, something good was developed. A clinic was established at Baptist/St. Anthony Hospital in her memory with the help of my sorority sisters of Xi Rho Mu Chapter of Beta Sigma Phi, the Northwest Texas Chapter of the Myasthenia Gravis Foundation, Baptist/St. Anthony Hospital and Dr. Bernard Patten and his colleagues, who were so faithful to come from Houston every year to conduct the clinic. It was the purpose of the clinic to help people who were experiencing neuro‑muscular problems get a diagnosis, to help them get the treatment they needed and to help them find support.

After the retirement of Dr. Patten, it was decided that there would not be a need for the clinic in Amarillo. The money left in the Edie Brooks MG fund will be used to help fund the clinic at Hale Center because many of the patients that attend the Hale Center Clinic were also patients of Dr. Patten's at the Amarillo Clinic.

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