The Tribune

By JADE RUSSELL

Tribune Staff Reporter

jrussell@tribunemedia.net

A FOUR-YEAR-OLD girl who once walked, talked and ate normally has lost those abilities amid a mysterious medical decline marked by daily seizures, leaving doctors still unable to determine what is causing her condition.

Selah Grace Rahming’s deterioration became severe late last year when she began suffering intense seizures and progressively lost the ability to walk, speak, chew food, hold up her head properly and use her hands.

Her mother, Deryl King, said the episodes now occur daily and can leave Selah vomiting, gasping for air and weak.

At night, Ms King sleeps beside her daughter and listens to make sure she continues breathing through the seizures.

“I do fear that all the time because it literally cuts her breath,” she said. “So, during that time, I'm not breathing just to make sure I hear her breathing.”

The circumstances are particularly troubling because Selah was initially a healthy child and, despite extensive medical attention, her mother said doctors have yet to establish what is responsible for the dramatic regression.

Selah was born on January 28, 2022. At about a year old, she began experiencing febrile seizures.

By October 2024, the seizures had become chronic.

Ms King subsequently took her daughter to Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami for evaluation, where she said doctors diagnosed her symptoms as epilepsy.

However, Selah’s health deteriorated significantly in December 2025.

By then three years old, she began suffering intense seizures and losing skills she had already developed.

Ms King said there were initially subtle signs that something was changing.

Selah began having difficulty holding up her head and started drooling.

The problems then spread to basic functions she had previously performed independently.

“I noticed that she started to have issues with holding up her head, she started drooling,” she said. “She could no longer chew on her own, so she started developing an issue with chewing and swallowing.

“I saw that she had difficulty holding her fork. She couldn’t hold anything in her hands anymore. It was really rough.”

Selah can no longer eat solid food because she has lost the ability to chew, her mother said, resulting in weight loss.

She also no longer walks or speaks.

Ms King said watching her daughter lose abilities she had previously mastered has been mentally devastating, particularly because the cause remains undiagnosed.

Her life has also been transformed by the illness.

Ms King, who previously worked in banking and owns Picture Me In 3D, stopped working to provide Selah with round-the-clock care while also raising her 19-year-old son.

Much of her time is now spent taking Selah to physical therapy and medical appointments.

Ms King said she has used National Health Insurance to assist with her daughter’s treatment, but the family is now seeking more specialised medical intervention.

They hope to take Selah to Panama this month for advanced diagnostic testing, specialised treatment and intensive therapeutic care.

The family is seeking $30,000 to cover the effort. A GoFundMe campaign had raised $17,195 up to press time.

Ms King said turning publicly to others for assistance was difficult but had become necessary.

“I can’t do it on my own,” she said. “A lot of times we keep things ourselves because we don’t want to be a burden. But there comes a time when you have to realise that you cannot do it on your own.”

Beyond finding an explanation for Selah’s illness, Ms King said she hopes her daughter will eventually regain the abilities she has lost — to walk, play with other children and speak.

Asked what she most longs to hear from her daughter again, she said:

“Mummy. I haven’t heard that in so long.”