Every once in a while, one of Letty Zuniga’s children will turn to her and ask, “When will Selena get better?”

Letty’s answer is always the same: “Hopefully soon. We need to pray to God for her to get better.”

The question doesn’t seem out of line. Letty remembers the laughing, smiling Selena she knew before that day in October of 2005 when Selena was 10 and her life changed.

Selena had been diagnosed with epilepsy when she was young, and took medication for the condition. That October day, she complained of not feeling well, so Letty arranged to have her sister stay with Selena while she went to work. The day went well; Letty was driving back to Albert Lea when Selena started to have a seizure. Letty pulled over to the side of the road and dialed 9-1-1. Selena was treated at the Owatonna Hospital, and was fine the next morning, her mother said.

But by later in the day, Selena complained that her legs hurt and she couldn’t walk on her own. Letty took her to Albert Lea Medical Center, where the emergency room staff decided to have her transported to Rochester. Selena was running a fever and suffered another seizure.

After receiving medication, Selena spent a good night in the intensive care unit, her mother said. She was transferred to the hospital’s general floor, but just two hours later, another seizure came.

“And they didn’t stop,” Letty said.

Doctors put her in an induced coma for three months. She was still having seizures, but the rest of her body didn’t show it. She was fed through a tube.

After getting off the medication that kept Selena in a coma, she spent three months on the general floor of the Rochester hospital, then she was able to come home to her mother’s care.

“Doctors still don’t know why this happened,” Letty said.

Selena requires around-the-clock care, and Letty and her sister, Ofelia Cortez, managed it for about six months. They now have in-home nursing care for Selena.

“Our goal is to keep her stable and keep her out of the hospital,” Letty said.

Selena can’t sit on her own and has no muscle tone. She’s fed through a tube. She is wheelchair bound and can’t go to a park like other children her age. She receives physical and occupational therapy in her home to help keep her flexible. Selena is only able to communicate with eye-blinks.

There are places Letty could take her daughter, but she prefers to keep her in her home. “Why would I ever want anyone else to take care of my child?” she asked. But because of the care her daughter requires, Letty is unable to work outside the home.

Diane Groth of Prairie River Home Care of Rochester is Selena’s nurse. She has been amazed at what the family has been able to do on its own.

“She’s the best multi-tasker I know,” she said of Letty.

Having a nurse allows Letty to spend some time with her two younger children, Jorge, 10, and Esmeralda, 8. “They’ve been through a lot, too,” Letty said.

Letty also has a 19-year-old daughter, Maria.

While there is a ramp up to the Zuniga home so Selena can be taken to doctor’s appointments, there is no place she can even sit outside in her wheelchair. That’s why a group of people in the community have started a fundraiser for a deck to be put on the family’s home.

Selena’s situation spoke to one woman’s heart, who felt the need to do something to help. She prayed for just an extra $20 to help the family, and the next day, she got a check back for overpayment of a bill. She put $1 bills in 20 envelopes, and asked people to help grow the amount in each envelope to $25. While they have raised enough money for the deck, they’d like to equip it with a wheelchair-accessible swing.

ShineFest is taking charge of the project and will be building the deck onto the family’s home.

Anyone who would like to help the family can send donations to the Selena Zuniga Fund, care of Crossroads Evangelical Free Church, 3402 Hoeger Lane, Albert Lea, within the next 30 days.

The Make-A-Wish Foundation, which grants wishes to children with chronic illness, is remaking Selena’s room in the near future. And because the older home has some mold issues, Groth is going to fill out the paperwork for the family’s application to “Extreme Makeover Home Edition.”