Raising 3 Children, While Coping With Seizures Keyanna Rice, 29, with her children Zaire, at left, Elijah and Janiyah. The family lives with Ms. Rice's mother in Brooklyn. When Keyanna Rice goes to bed every night, she does not know if she will wake up the next day disoriented, incapacitated or in excruciating pain. Ms. Rice is afflicted by grand mal seizures, violent muscle contractions, and has been dealing with them since she was 8. Recorded Wed.: "I don't know when they're going to come; they just come," Ms. Rice, now 29, said, her eyes tired. I could wake up and be out of it. Sometimes I can't lift my head. The contractions have not only undermined the health of Ms. Rice, a single mother of three, but they have also interfered with her ability to hold a job. She said she lost her last one, working behind the register at a White Castle, in 2004 because of her medical problems. In 2010, Ms. Rice and her children, Zaire, now 5; Elijah, now 4; and Janiyah, now 3, were forced from their rented apartment in the Bronx when the building went into foreclosure. Ms. Rice, who has raised the children mostly on her own, could not afford a new place, so she took them to a homeless shelter in Brooklyn. She remembers days when she would be suffering after a seizure, and Zaire would step in to care for his sister, taking her bottles of milk and changing her diapers. "He's so young," Ms. Rice said, her soft voice filled with regret. That's too much responsibility for a 5-year-old. The family spent a year in the shelter, Ms. Rice said. But last August, after giving up hope of getting her own place and realizing that she needed help caring for her children, she moved in with her mother in Fort Greene, Brooklyn. Ms. Rice and the children now share a small room in the basement of a two-family home where her mother rents. A sister of Ms. Rice's rents the second floor. "We just squeezed ourselves together," Ms. Rice's mother, Alethia Rice, 72, said. We had to do what we had to do. Alethia Rice, who is legally blind, helps care for her grandchildren when her daughter is struck by seizures. Medication, paid for by Medicaid, has helped Keyanna Rice cope, but the seizures can be set off by stress or lack of sleep, she said. She is also dealing with the ailments of her children. On a recent afternoon, Elijah, who was born with asthma, hopped around the room, playing with a new toy, a blue Transformer figure, as his brother and sister napped. "He's the alarm clock," Ms. Rice said. He's up at 3 a.m. every morning. Elijah held the toy in one hand, and his asthma inhaler in the other. The smell of mold from past floods lingered in the basement air. He did not start speaking until he was 3, and Ms. Rice learned that he and Zaire were developmentally delayed. Her daughter has also begun having what may be epileptic seizures. Doctors are still searching for a diagnosis, Ms. Rice said. Last May, Ms. Rice turned to Brooklyn Community Services, one of the seven agencies supported by The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund, for assistance with the children. She receives no child support, she said, and her monthly income is $367.40 in Supplemental Security Income and $300 in food stamps. She also receives $350 a month in Supplemental Security Income for each of her sons. For 20 hours a week, Ms. Rice gets help from a certified homemaker provided by the agency to supervise the children, prepare their meals and escort them to school and doctor's appointments. When Ms. Rice and her children first moved into her mother's apartment, the four shared two twin beds. In October, the agency drew $747 from the Neediest Cases Fund to buy bunk beds for the boys and a crib for Janiyah. The agency also gave the family $300 to buy winter clothing. Ms. Rice has applied for public housing in hopes that she and her children can have their own apartment again. She has also been filling out applications for jobs at fast-food restaurants and department stores, but has yet to be hired, she said. Though doctors have told her she will have to deal with the seizures for the rest of her life, she prays for the time she can wake up each morning feeling rested. Until then, she pushes through the bad days to be there for her children and see them flourish. "I want them to get a good education and be successful," Ms. Rice said. It's tiring, but I try to do the best that I can.