WALNUT CREEK — The joy on 8-year-old Sierra Griswold’s face showed no sign of the terrifying nights when she was rushed to the hospital with near-fatal seizures. Sierra and her family were celebrating their departure for Sierra’s Make-a-Wish trip to Disneyland at California Pizza Kitchen on Monday.
It was really the double celebration of a family vacation following years of health challenges for the Griswolds. Just as Sierra was healthy enough for travel following the operation, her mother, Stephanie Zaccaro, was diagnosed with breast cancer.
Sierra suffers from Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy. It is a rare form of the disease where death can occur during or immediately after a seizure. She was promised the trip before she had surgery to lessen her symptoms almost two years ago.
Dr. Kurtis Auguste, director of Pediatric Epilepsy Surgery Program at UCSF and Children’s Hospital in Oakland, performed the surgery that stopped the most dangerous seizures, but Sierra was subsequently diagnosed with autism.
“Sierra still has what appears to be short seizures during the day, but our life is so much better,” Zaccaro said.
It also has taken time for Zaccaro to recover from a double mastectomy and reconstruction.
“I am better now,” she said, noting she is in remission. “This really is a double celebration. I feel bad that Sierra had to wait so long.”
“Sierra wanted to go to Aulani (Disney/Hawaii), but her doctor says the (confined) airplane trip could be too dangerous,” Zaccaro said, adding the family has decided to drive instead.
While Sierra was delighted with a gift backpack full of fun things for her trip, she still has the disease that has impacted the whole family in different ways.
“Her sister would sleep with her and come and wake me up,” her mother recalls. “After a 911 call, the house was filled with three or four firefighters, who came first, and the EMTs taking her in an ambulance to the hospital.”
Zuccaro quit her job in the mortgage business to care for Sierra, as the family grappled with integrating those events into everyday life.
“I learned more than I ever wanted to know about medicine… and the girls (sisters Ericka and Chloe) have been really sweet with her.”
In addition to running a business, Sierra’s father, Harlan Griswold, has continued to practice music in the garage of their Martinez home and play with a local band. He says, “Music is part of our life.”
When asked the name of his garage band, Griswold said, there is none.
”We a group of middle-aged businessmen and a woman singer. We all have stressful jobs. It’s wonderful to have some time together.”
The Griswold family left on its five-day trip to Disneyland on Thursday.
“It’s something we’re really excited about,” Zaccaro said before the trip.
Make-A-Wish Greater Bay Area is a nonprofit organization that fulfills the wishes of children between the ages of 2½ and 18 battling life-threatening medical conditions. It grants more than 400 wishes to such children in the area from the Oregon state line to Monterey.
