Four-year-old Grayson Wood of Maryland loves superheroes. His parents say that’s why every doctor’s appointment has become a “superpower test,” a way to make a difficult medical journey feel a little less scary.

Several years ago, he suffered a seizure that sent his family rushing to the emergency room. At the time, doctors believed a high fever may have triggered the episode. 

When the seizure ended, his parents hoped it would be an isolated incident, but it wasn’t.

Hidden seizures 

The seizures eventually returned, this time without a fever and without warning.

One afternoon, Grayson was sitting on his mother’s lap watching television when she noticed something was wrong.

“It was just me and him in the house,” said his mother, Sherrie Wood. “We’re watching TV, he’s sitting on my lap, he stretches, he holds the stretch for a while. When I look at him, his eyes start to go back.”

For his father, Deaven Wood, the experience was terrifying.

“That’s the scariest thing I’ve seen in my life,” he said. “I’d seen seizures on TV before, but seeing one in real life, you don’t know what to do.”

Searching for answers

Searching for answers, the family turned to pediatric neurologist Dr. Bilal Sitwat at LifeBridge Health.

There, doctors used a technology called Ceribell, a rapid EEG system that can detect seizure activity within minutes at a patient’s bedside.

Traditional EEG testing often requires multiple electrodes to be attached to a patient’s scalp before specialists can review brain activity. The Ceribell system instead uses a soft headband that can be put on quickly, allowing physicians to monitor brain activity almost immediately.

Detecting a seizure

The technology proved especially valuable during one of Grayson’s emergency room visits.

After receiving medication, the preschooler appeared to be sleeping peacefully on his mother’s chest. To his family, it looked like he was finally resting.

The monitor revealed something very different.

“We were in the emergency room, and they gave him medicine, and he wound up taking a nap,” Wood said. “The nurse came in and said, ‘We’re going to give him some medicine because he’s having a seizure.’ He was peacefully napping on my chest. She showed me the readings on her phone.”

Doctors say seizures can sometimes occur without the dramatic symptoms many people expect, making rapid brain monitoring an important tool for diagnosis and treatment.

“It is quite a game changer,” Sitwat said. “It helps doctors detect and treat seizures early, but it’s even more helpful for patients because they can receive treatment earlier.”

According to Sitwat, LifeBridge Health is currently the only hospital system in the region using technology in this way.

For Grayson’s family, having answers has brought a sense of relief after years of uncertainty.

Today, he continues taking medication and attending follow-up appointments. While the testing and treatments haven’t always been easy, his parents say he approaches them with remarkable resilience.

“It’s a lot of tests, a lot of blood work and taking medicine,” Wood said. “But he’s okay with it because he knows it keeps the superpowers strong.”