For most parents, sleep is a sacrifice they accept during the earliest part of their child’s life. But for Francesca Fedeli and Roberto D’Angelo, sleep deprivation has been a constant for five years as they’ve taken turns in overnight co-sleeping vigils for their 8-year-old son, Mario, who has suffered potentially life-threatening seizures since he was 3.

Just recently, they’ve finally been able to sleep through the night.

“For about a month, we’ve regained that peace of mind that we had lost,” says Fedeli.

The much-needed breakthrough came from what D’Angelo, a 21-year Microsoft employee, and colleagues around the world worked to finish building in July at the company’s annual Global Hackathon, produced by The Garage. Their project, MirrorHR – Epilepsy Research Kit for Kids, was just named this year’s grand prize winner for the event.

Mario’s parents are using the new system — a mobile app connected to a wearable device that sends alerts when anomalous activity might indicate a seizure — so they no longer have to hover over their son. It helps allay the biggest fear that a seizure could lead to what is called SUDEP, or sudden unexpected death in epilepsy.