Shenaz was a 19-year-old engineering student when she had her first seizure. She had to leave university since her seizures did not respond to medication. Two years later she took the very brave step to undergo temporal lobe surgery. During recuperation, Shenaz met patients from different cultures, age groups and financial backgrounds, each with a
Serene had her first seizure as a result of a high fever. She then had more seizures that were always associated to fever. Because of her parents' lack of knowledge about epilepsy she was never treated for her febrile seizures but these she outgrew by the age of 7. Then, during a mid-term college break
Sandra is now 41 years old. There is a family history of epilepsy: her uncle also had the disease but the family didn’t see this as normal. She often saw her grandmother and mother crying, because her uncle was financially and physically dependent. When she was 17 years old, she had an episode that would
In 2014 Rob Wierzbicki was the Australian recipient of The Outstanding Person with Epilepsy Award honouring Rob’s volunteer service to the Epilepsy Foundation of Victoria, spanning some 16 years. Rob was introduced to the Epilepsy Foundation Victoria when he was diagnosed with epilepsy at the age of 22. He attended seminars and obtained as much
I grew up seeing my parents struggle to make ends meet and told myself I had to study hard. I was an above average student and good at sport, representing my school in competitions. In June 1989, during training, I had a fall that resulted in a brain injury. It took a year before I
Hermes is 29 years old and lives in Blantyre, Malawi. He is the sixth born of a seven-children family. He has a wife, Ruth, and a young son. He suffers from convulsions and also has absence seizures. He has never seen a neurologist: his medical assessment and medication were provided by a nurse. “Due to my
Helia is 59 years old and has had absence epilepsy since she was 15 months old. Her classmates never made fun of her and she loved school. Her ambition was to study dentistry, but in the end, she joined the Chilean Naval Army as a telegraph operator, proudly graduating from training with honors, despite her epilepsy.
Finnish five-year-old Emilia Salminen underwent extensive frontal-lobe surgery in the spring of 2014.Emilia's operation was performed at hospital in Helsinki. She was in surgery for eight hours. Emilia's epileptic seizures were caused by a congenital developmental disorder of the frontal lobe. When the condition was at its worst, she suffered dozens of episodes a day. Medications did not seem
Tony Coelho, of Portuguese ancestry, is a former United States Democrat congressman and the primary author and sponsor of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Born in 1942, his first career choice was the priesthood. However, a compulsory medical exam showed that he had epilepsy, caused by an accident on his parents’ farm when he was
Alfie Scott is now 8 and lives at home with his mum, dad and two cats. He goes to a specialist school for children with visual and other disabilities, where he was pupil of the year last year. He loves a cuddle, swimming, chocolate, and going in his wheelchair on bumpy surfaces, or in the wind and rain
