Palisades Teen Aims to Raise $50,000 for Epilepsy

Imagine being a teenage girl and losing control of your mind and body in front of 100 people. Or while swimming in the Pacific Ocean.

Palisadian Audrey Kaller, who lives in the Huntington, doesn’t have to imagine it. She lived it. Just before her thirteenth birthday she suffered her first seizure. It was the beginning of a harrowing year of doctors’ offices, ambulance rides and fear. Ultimately, Kaller was diagnosed with epilepsy, a brain disorder, in which a person has repeated seizures over time.

Today, the fourteen-year-old is back in control and taking charge. With the help of her parents Adam and Dana Kaller, Team Audrey Kaller raised $35,000 for The Walk to End Epilepsy last year. This year, she is setting her sights higher and aims to raise $50,000 when she walks at the Rose Bowl on November 17.

“Instead of being a victim and sitting back, I like taking action and doing something about this,” said Audrey Kaller. “I can’t control the seizures but I can control what I do about this. That’s why I do the fundraising.”

It has been just over a year since her first seizure and while it has been wrought with challenges, tears and frustration, it has also been full of incredible achievement. Audrey Kaller used her diagnosis as a catalyst for action. After she became a Junior Ambassador for Children’s Hospital, she and her dad flew to Washington, D.C., where they lobbied Congress to increase awareness and funding for epilepsy research—all while struggling through her own diagnosis and treatment.

“We didn’t let this illness ruin us.  We fought back,” said Adam Keller.

For his daughter, part of fighting back involved informing her peers and members of the community about the condition that affects one in every 26 people. Determined not to let her disease isolate her, she set out to educate her classmates about epilepsy and garner their support in finding a cure.

“Once I started promoting the Walk to End Epilepsy on my social media, kids at school would come and ask me what it was,” she said. “Everyone was really supportive, and it was encouraging to find out that other people had a friend or a sister who also had epilepsy.”

Standing proudly behind her cause, Audrey Kaller began to take back her life from the disease that had disrupted everything. So much of what the aspiring singer experienced since her diagnosis has been out of her control, including adverse reactions to medication. Finding the right treatment was exhausting for a young girl who wanted nothing more than to get back to her life of friends, fashion and music.

“The first drug caused Audrey to fall asleep at school for hours on end.  The second made her hyperactive and ravenous,” said Adam Kaller. “On the third try, we got it right.  Sadly, this process was long and emotionally taxing.  Audrey missed a lot of school and it was so hard on her.”

The combined stress of missing school and finding the right treatment for her seizures took a toll on Audrey’s mind and body. A gifted singer, Audrey’s voice suffered the greatest blow. For six months, she could barely speak, and her songs had stopped altogether.

“Month after month went by without song.  Our home was different,” said Adam Kaller. “Then, in mid-July, Dana sent me a text message with an audio file attached. I opened it and after eight long months, I heard that voice again.”

It had been a long, frustrating season of silence for the usually lively teen before she finally sang her reprieve. To celebrate, Audrey performed at the Wee Rock! Kid’s Music Festival for Children’s Hospital.

“We are doing these things because we know that many people who suffer from epilepsy don’t get relief,” said her father.  “Their seizures don’t get controlled, and their parents don’t hear them sing again.  That is why we keep fighting.”

To join Team Audrey Kaller at The Walk to End Epilepsy visit endepilepsy.com/teamaudreykaller.