Chloe Brady: 2024 Riley Champion

For over 11 years, Chloe Brady and her family have been making the nearly three-hour drive to Riley Children’s Health from their home in Evansville, Indiana. Chloe has epilepsy, and Riley Children’s is home to the only Level 4 Comprehensive Epilepsy Program in Indiana.

At age 3, Chloe’s parents began noticing odd facial and body movements. Testing revealed that Chloe was suffering from petit mal seizures, a type of seizure that involves brief, sudden lapses in attention. Since the day she received her diagnosis, Chloe has been in the care of Marcia Felker, M.D., a Riley pediatric neurologist.

“Dr. Felker has become part of our family. She is amazing and I wish every person, especially children, had a doctor like her,” said Angie Brady, Chloe’s mom. “She’s personable, she’s funny, she’s really good at reassuring us. She will speak in medical terms but explain it in a way that both Chloe and I can understand.”

Chloe has been doing well the last several years, and she and her care team are hopeful she will soon outgrow her condition.

“Chloe had difficult-to-control seizures as a young child, but fortunately has done well since,” said Dr. Felker. “If her epilepsy becomes difficult to control again, which can happen for some around puberty, she has at hand all the experts in our comprehensive epilepsy clinic to discuss options, including medication, surgical and dietary options.”

Chloe, now 15, spends her time giving back to the hospital. Whether it’s speaking at the University of Southern
Indiana’s Riley Dance Marathon, collecting supplies for the Riley School Program or organizing a toy drive for kids who have to spend the holidays at the hospital, Chloe is always finding ways to advocate for Riley. Her mission is to put a smile on the faces of kids who are going through a hard time. Chloe loves music, drawing and reading, and hopes to soon get the green light to learn to drive.

While talking about the future, there is one thing of which Chloe and her family are absolutely certain: Their Riley journey will never be over, and they will never stop advocating for other families like theirs. They plan to stay very involved in their local community’s efforts to support Riley and Riley families.