Welcome to Matthew's Friends
The ketogenic diet is not new – it has been used for the treatment of epilepsy for over 80 years. With the introduction of anti-convulsant medication in the 1930’s the diet has taken a ‘back seat’ and tends to be only used nowadays as a ‘last resort’ if it is used at all.
If anti-convulsant medication had provided all the answers to those with epilepsy then obviously there would be no need for this site or the diet, sadly, this is not the case or Matthew’s Friends would not be here. There are many people with epilepsy who do not respond to medication, my son, Matthew, was one of them. As a parent, I hated having to give him a cocktail of drugs every day that didn’t stop the seizures; this has affected his development and his quality of life. The Ketogenic diet offered Matthew another choice. As you will read in Matthew’s story, the difference has been amazing.
It is well known throughout the medical profession and epilepsy organisations that if the first two anti-epileptic medications tried DON’T work, then the chance of any other epilepsy drug working is reduced to about 10% which is why Matthew’s Friends advocate the diet being made available as a treatment after two Anti Epileptic Medicines have been tried, this falls in line with the recently published consensus statement made by some of the world’s leading medical professionals using these diets.
The sad fact is it took me 6 years to get Matthew on the diet because his previous neurologist didn’t think the diet worked and thought a cocktail of drugs which NEVER stopped the seizures and gave him (and us) a terrible quality of life was a ‘better option’. If I had got him on the diet when I first requested it, when he was just 2 years old, instead of being nearly 8 years old, it would have saved him in excess of 24,720 seizures and that is VERY difficult to live with.
Since we first launched the charity, these dietary treatments have come a long way and things are changing. We have funded children individually through the diet and funded Keto Clinics in expanding their services, as well as providing training and education grants to professionals and providing grants for continuing medical research. Rest assured Matthew’s Friends will bring you all the latest information and support you as much as possible.
New and easier to manage versions of these types of diet are now available and trials into these are ongoing around the globe. This will open up the treatment options for more people than ever before and I have no doubt that we will see far more people benefiting from using these specialist diets to help manage their condition and give them a better quality of life.
Professor Cross’s trial on the efficacy of both the Classical Ketogenic Diet and the MCT Diet was published in 2008 – finally providing Class 1 evidence for the professional world that these diets should be made available. Doctors can no longer say ‘this diet doesn’t work’ so that is one myth dispelled. We do know that the diets don’t work for everyone – but neither do the drugs – however, it is another choice that COULD be tried and COULD stop the seizures for good. No one has the right to take away that hope or the possibility of a better quality of life.
I started Matthew’s Friends to provide some positive support and as a place to gather information, so that an informed ‘choice’ can be made. This charity doesn’t want to ‘re-invent the wheel’ so we only concentrate on our field of expertise which is the Dietary Treatments for Epilepsy and we support all those using them. We have tried to make this site as comprehensive as possible and it is constantly monitored to give the best and most up to date information possible so make sure you keep checking in. This sees our 2nd major site update since we started as we just keep on getting bigger and more information keeps becoming available.
I also started Matthew’s Friends in honour of my son. Although there have been very bleak times over the years, both he and his sister are incredible kids and I am so VERY proud to be their mum, they are both the rainbow in my life and I hope that Matthew’s Friends can be the rainbow in yours.
On behalf of the trustees, Medical Board, Assistant and Regional Co-ordinators, we welcome you to Matthew’s Friends and look forward to hearing from you with YOUR experiences, help, advice and any comments you may have on how we can improve this site and our future services.
Emma Williams
Founder/Chief Executive-Matthew’s Friends
Parent Representative - KetoPAG
International Patron of DESI (Diets for Epilepsy in India)
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