Millicent Teague Kelly was born in Banner Elk Hospital in Banner Elk, NC on 8-28-1925 located near Grandfather Mountain, the Appalachian Trail, The Blue Ridge Parkway and 7 miles from the TN boarder. She is a graduate of University of North Carolina at Greensboro and the Johns Hopkins School of Nutrition and Dietetics, Baltimore, MD.

The seventh of nine children, Millicent Teague Kelly comes from a family who revered education. The child of one of Avery County’s first superintendents of schools, Milly and her siblings each received post-secondary degrees during the early 20th century, a remarkable accomplishment. A 1942 graduate of Newland High School, Milly was persuaded by her brother to seek a secretarial degree at Mars Hill College. Milly explains that after one semester in the program she “couldn’t bear it,” and unbeknownst to her parents, promptly changed her major to nutrition.

Milly continued her degree at the Women’s College of Greensboro (now UNC-Greensboro). In 1947 — the same year she was named Miss Avery County — Milly was selected to travel to Maryland to complete a 12-month program in Johns Hopkins School of Nutrition and Dietetics. This adventure took an “old mountain girl,” as Milly describes herself, on a train to the renowned hospital in Baltimore, Md. That ride has proven to be one of the most auspicious of Milly’s life.

Following her completion of that program, Milly worked first as a nurse and later transferred to the Nutrition Department. It was there that Milly was introduced to Dr. Samuel Livingston, who introduced Milly to the ketogenic diet, a revolutionary nutrition regimen that transformed the lives of those suffering from childhood epilepsy. Milly worked with countless patients to achieve a state known as ketosis, in which the ketone levels in the body elevate due to a high fat/low carbohydrate diet. This state produces a neurological reaction that seems to soothe some part of the brain and very often relieves the seismic symptoms.

Working mostly with young children, Milly and the staff at Hopkins achieved high levels of success with most of their patients. Milly estimates a 90 percent success rate with the patients cared for by Livingston and his staff. As Milly grew more experienced in administering the diet to her pediatric patients, newer medicines were being used, and many other hospitals chose prescription drug treatment over the ketogenic diet. Hopkins, however, continued the practice of ketosis and continued to witness life-changing results in their patients.

Milly retired in 1990 but continued to work for the hospital as a private consultant in PEDIATRIC NEUROLOGY. Visiting a newly admitted patient’s room, Milly witnessed an all-too-familiar scene. A father was leaning over his 20-month-old son’s bed with tears streaming down his face while he watched his toddler experience seizure after seizure, at times more than 100 seizures per day.

“That father was desperate,” Milly recalls. “He was willing to do whatever it would take to save his son.” Milly suggested the ketogenic diet, of which the father had absolutely no prior knowledge. Charlie Abrahams responded immediately to the diet and was soon completely free of seizures. His father, Jim Abrahams, was “so incensed” that he had been offered countless medicinal therapies, but never heard mention of the diet, that he funded several programs to increase awareness of the ketogenic diet and its phenomenal effects.

Known for producing hit comedies such as Airplane! and Hotshots: Part Deux, Jim Abrahams started a foundation to promote the cure of epilepsy, funded the publication of a book Milly wrote with Dr. John Freeman, paid for seminars all over the U.S., and featured his personal experience with epilepsy on Dateline, with Milly by his side. Exposure from the Dateline feature brought further attention to the diet, which prompted Abrahams to produce a movie, First Do No Harm, starring Meryl Streep as the mother of a patient and Milly Kelly as herself.

Milly continued to receive phone calls and cards from those she helped transition back to a normal life and has been honored numerous times during her career.

Millicent was married to the late Spencer Thomas Kelly of Baltimore, MD and is survived by two children, Jenny Lind Kelly and Edwin Kelly as well as 6 grandchildren. She passed away on Thursday, September 10 from complications due to cerebral vascular disease at her daughter’s home in Hunt Valley, MD after 17 days of in-home hospice supervised by Gilcrist Hospice Care.

Online condolences may be made to the family at www.peacefulalternatives.com

YOUTUBE links:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwJ67vGKz0k

Millicent T. Kelly R.D. playing herself in the movie FIRST DO NO HARM with Meryl Streep playing the mother of small child with epilepsy ... based on the true story of Charlie Abrahams ... The diet begins with a 3 day fast. This fasting technique was used to rid children of demonic behaviors (epilepsy) in Biblical times and is based on the New Testament quote of Jesus - "This can only be cured with prayer and fasting"

The TRUE science of the diet is that it clears up harmful bacteria in the gut that is causing the seizures and RESTS the brain. Then a special NEW diet (ketogenic diet)t is administered to maintain ...

DATELINE NBC Medical Secrets 10-26-94

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q7d5gQrpdfo&t=94s

Millicent Kelly and the Modern History of the Ketogenic Diet:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ma5t4ClKZSU