Like any parent, Lincoln Elementary School principal Andy Gottlob wants his son, Charlie, age 10, to have the best possible quality of life.
For Charlie, that means brain surgery later this month to reduce the frequency and severity of seizures that have plagued him for the past five years.
A fundraiser, Drumming for Charlie, is planned for 6 p.m. Monday at Lincoln school to help the family with travel and expenses. The Reba E. Davis Memorial Drumming Ensemble will perform, along with food and raffle items.
GOTTLOB and his wife, Leah, adopted Charlie from the Philippines when the boy was 2½. The couple are now divorced but co-parent under very challenging circumstances, as Charlies seizures could require immediate medical care. They live in Girard, where Leah is a teacher at the local elementary school.
About eight years ago, the entire family traveled to the Philippines to meet Charlie, with daughters Sierra, now 29 of Olathe, and Sydney, now 21 and a student at the University of Kansas.
Not much was known about Charlies biological family, which means not much is known about his medical history. He lived in an orphanage on an island with a high rate of poverty.
Andy Gottlob, Lincoln Elementary School principal, with his son, Charlie. The Gottlobs will travel to Boston later this month for when Charlie undergoes brain surgery to reduce the severity of seizures. PHOTO COURTESY OF ANDY GOTTLOB
Once in the Philippines, the Gottlob family took a small plane to the island where Charlie lived and then a lengthy ride in the back of a Jeep to meet him. They spent about two weeks in the Philippines, mostly dealing with paperwork. Charlie stayed with them part of the time to ease the transition.
The toddler had never traveled in a vehicle, let alone an airplane, and stayed awake during a 14-hour stretch of the flight home.
Adjusting to a new life in a new country brings its challenges, of course, but Charlie is tough, his father said. Even so, the boy suffers from anxiety during stressful situations and also when hes around a lot of people. He had to overcome a language barrier as well.
His first few years in the U.S., Charlie adapted to his new life. He played sports. He started preschool.
The seizures started not long after that, about five years ago.
Charlie experiences between three and five seizures a day, lasting from a couple of minutes to 20 minutes. If they last more than 15 minutes, he is administered a special medication that stops them.
The Gottlobs have taken Charlie to hospitals all across the country, including Childrens Mercy Hospital in Kansas City, the Mayo Clinic, Cleveland Clinic and Boston Childrens Hospital, in search of a diagnosis and cure.
He was diagnosed with Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, a severe and often drug-resistant type of epilepsy that is the most difficult to treat.
