Donate to Ethan Merriman's Journey to Seizure-Free Life

A few months back, one of Brandon Merriman's son's, Ethan, underwent multiple surgeries to hopefully stop and prevent the seizures he has been plagued with for many years. This page was setup to help defray some of the costs incurred by the Merriman family (Brandon & Krista) and support them as they continue to raise their children: Ethan, Bentley, Bella, & Mallory. If you haven't had a chance to meet Brandon, he is the Equipment Delivery Coordinator for Denham-Blythe in Lexington, but supports all 4 offices.

Ethan and his brother Bentley are both avid baseball fans & players.

Ethan is a 9-year-old boy who was born with a disease called Tuberous Sclerosis Complex (TSC). TSC causes noncancerous tumors to develop on many organs in the body. TSC can also cause many issues with emotional, behavioral and physical development. Ethan has 3 tumors on his heart, many on his brain and a cyst on his kidney. Due to the tumors on his brain, Ethan has been struggling with epilepsy since he was 4. Ethan has tried many different seizure medications and none of them have helped, as he still struggles with almost daily seizures. He recently had 2 brain surgeries to test and prepare for the epilepsy brain surgery performed this Spring. He has always had such a good attitude about his many doctors appointments, blood work, side effects from medications, MRIs and various other scans. He is the bravest little boy we know and is looking forward to hopefully remaining seizure free.

The doctors think Ethan has a very good chance of being seizure free and that he will do very well in general. If not completely seizure free, it will be much more manageable with a lot less medication. However, with tuberous sclerosis, he always will have a chance to develop new seizures from different parts of his brain that have nothing to do with any of these seizures/surgeries. His doctor said he has a lot less tumors/tubers than most TS kids so he sees the surgery as a positive for Ethan.

On his recovery, Brandon said, "Recovery definitely has gone well although hard for any child having to miss out on some fun summer activities, but he is currently in his last stage of recovery with an appt later this month to hopefully clear him. He has been so incredibly positive, brave and strong without one complaint throughout this whole journey. He has been seizure free since the surgery on April 10th. He is happy, confident and feels safe to try new things. Being able to watch and see the change in him, it makes the hard times worth it. He is our superhero!"

Please consider helping support Brandon, Krista, Ethan and the rest of the Merriman Family. Specialized tutors could make a big difference for Ethan as he continues to recover and any donation would make a big difference for this beautiful, young family!

The Denham-Blythe Board of Directors has agreed to match DB donations.

Thank you,

The DB Cares Team