Anna returned to be with God on January 13, 2008. She leaves behind her an incredible legacy of hope and love. She was a delightful little girl with a loving and gentle spirit that was very wise. Despite having severe intractible epilepsy, she loved to play, laugh, hug and be silly every day, whether she was in good or in poor health. Her amazing attitude and inspiring strength taught us lessons every day of her life. We were blessed to have her be a part of our lives for six precious years.
Anna was born October 5, 2001 in Boston Massachusetts.
She was a beautiful baby and our first. We were doctors in training when she had her first seizure at the age of 4 weeks old. From that time Anna was in and out of hospitals for the rest of her six years.
From then on our lives were often filled with worry as she would have frequent life-threatening seizures that once started, would not stop without aggressive medical intervention.
Anna's health was tenuous and at the age of four it was recommended by all her doctors that she undergo a major brain resection. Desperate and worried about her future, we turned to alternative therapies and began Anna on diet therapy.
Later, after her little brother Sammy developed autism, we expanded our interest in alternative therapies and began Anna on an extensive regimen of therapies including diet, supplements, hyperbaric oxygen therapy, neurofeedback, chelation, probiotics and B12 supplementation.
Anna's health and functioning improved dramatically with these therapies. She began to have rapid improvement in school, her seizures came into control for the first time in her life; and she was able to be on less medicine with a better quality of life.
Our life which was previously dominated by fear and dread became filled by hope, enthusiasm and optimism.
While Anna's quality of life improved, so did her brother's. Sammy, who is now almost three years old, has improved so much that he no longer suffers from autism and attends regular preschool and is a loving and interactive little boy.
Anna died from a seizure in her sleep on January 13.
Though she had improved dramatically, her severe seizures were still able to ultimately claim her life.
This starkly reminds us of the desperate need for improved therapy, especially alternative therapies like those that helped Anna's life improve so much over the past two years.
We founded the Anna Starr foundation to help spread awareness of biomedical and alternative therapies and the wonders these therapies can work for children everywhere. The foundation will focus on clinical research trials to determine what therapies work best and for whom they work best. Treatment will also be a focus, providing therapy at no cost to families interested in pursuing biomedical treatments for their children. This will help increase access to these therapies that are often costly and typically not paid for by insurance. And also the foundation will promote education and awareness of this growing and exciting field of biomedical therapy which hold promise in improving the lives of children everywhere.
We remember Anna and the wonderful legacy she leaves for us all to appreciate and foster. Her life will continue to live on through the foundation and the good works it will do.
Fred Starr