The Wearable Device That Could Text You When Your Loved One Has A Seizure

Barbara Kroner has watched her daughter suffer from over 15,000 seizures. She has long slept in the same bed as Ellie, who has Aicardi syndrome, so that she’s there to help if the 14-year-old suffers a seizure.

“I don’t want my child having a seizure by themselves in the dark. I want to be with her,” said Kroner, a senior epidemiologist at RTI International. “Even if I don’t do anything, holding her hand, comforting her and telling her it’s gonna be okay helps me feel like I’m doing something. It helps her feel more comfortable till it’s over.”

One night in bed, she thought to herself, “I wish there was something that would tell me she’s having a seizure during the night.” Not long after she reached out to co-workers with an idea.

That thought was the impetus for RTI International obtaining a $1.6 million grant from the National Institutes of Health to develop a prototype for a mobile seizure alert system. Kroner is the co-principal investigator on the project.