AFD recognizes girl before surgery

ALBUQUERQUE (KRQE) - A brave fighter, that's how the family of 12-year-old Alicia Jacquez describes her.

Jacquez has been suffering from epileptic seizures since she was 1-year-old. On Wednesday, Albuquerque Firefighters recognized her for her bravery in an upcoming surgery where doctors plan to remove the damaged part of the frontal lobe of her brain. The surgery is said to be the first of it's kind in the state on someone with epilepsy at Alicia's age.

Members from AFD and the organization Fire Fighter Random Acts presented Jacquez with a gift basket Wednesday.  She also got to ride on a fire engine.

"I haven't seen her smile this much in a long time so to see her so excited and see so many people come at this time of the morning for her, it's amazing," said Alicia's mom, Marisella Jacquez.

In the last two months, she's had two operations to prepare her for the third and final surgery.

"I was scared for the first one," says Alicia. "But the second one I was really worried. I had already gone through it so it wasn't really big."

Her mom says they have been waiting.

"We've been wanting it for two  years and now that it's here it's hard to accept," said Marisella. "But we know that she'll have a chance that we could've never given her."

Even with a successful surgery, Alicia will not be quite out of the woods yet. There are some trade offs including speech and memory issues, but her family says they're ready for anything to have Alicia healthy once again.

"Our hope is the new year will be a new chance for her to start everything again, that's our hope," says Marisella.

The family expects her to make enough of a recovery by mid to late January to be able to return to school.

Anyone wishing to make a donation can do so at Wells Fargo Banks, just ask for the Alicia M. Jacquez under the name of Frank Garcia account. You can also contribute electronically through a Paypal account under the e-mail frank@aol.com