Family members are trying to find a van for Savannah Paul, who is facing challenges with her health at age 5. Submitted photo

A family in Falconer is facing a heart-breaking situation.

Sara Paul’s granddaughter, Savannah, was born May 12, 2017, at a healthy weight and size. They brought her home and she remained healthy for three more days before things began to go terribly wrong.

Savannah stopped eating and Paul said her eyes were bouncing and there were a few other symptoms. The family took her to WCA Hospital, and had her checked out, and then were sent home.

“You’re supposed to trust the professionals, so I did,” Paul said. “We came home and she was still not eating. My daughter called me and was scared she was going to die.”

Savannah was brought to Brooks Memorial Hospital in Dunkirk and almost immediately sent to Buffalo. It was there the family was told she had meningitis in her spine and severe brain damage.

Since then, the Paul family has had Savannah in and out of children’s hospitals. Paul said Savannah is a very floppy baby, and can no longer even hold her head up. She has microcephaly, a feeding tube, and is blind. She also has seven different seizure disorders.

On Tuesday, the family was told she does not have much time left.

Paul is now looking to get the family a van to help bring Savannah back and forth to the hospitals while they still have time with her.

Paul lives with and takes care of her own mother, having lost her father seven years ago. With the limited income, she is unable to get a loan for a van to help her granddaughter, who she has helped to raise and take care of for Savannah’s entire five years of life.

“There is no car seat that helps my granddaughter,” Paul said. “We’ve tried specialty seats and they don’t work. We had a car but it has damage and is basically a shot car now.”

Paul started a Go Fund Me to try and get help where she can to be able to afford this van.

“It’s not like this is not something I haven’t tried to do on my own,” Paul said. “We’ve lived in Falconer since 1980. I’ve reached out to people for help. We need help.”

Paul said Savannah’s seizures are now nonstop. After an electroencephalogram or EEG test on March 21, the family was told that the seizures do not affect just one part of Savannah’s brain. They come down the middle and move from right to left, and are now happening 24/7. The magnet that the family was given which was meant to stop the seizures no longer works either.

“Every time we go to the neurologist in Buffalo we get bad news,” Paul said. “We knew it from the beginning, but we have been told that the seizures are going to be what takes her life.”

Paul is at her breaking point both emotionally and physically, saying that she hardly eats and only sleeps about an hour or two a night, because of Savannah’s seizures continuing through the night. She said there is no help for situations like this locally.

“There is no help for these parents and grandparents in Chautauqua County who are raising children like Savannah,” Paul said. “There’s no one to help us get this van that we need. It might be a long shot to reach out, but maybe someone can help. I don’t know where else to turn. It’s hard.”

The Paul family’s Go Fund Me can be found at https://www.gofundme.com/f/getting-a-car-for-savannah.