Sharing My Journey of Hope

I had my first seizure in 2022. I was eight months pregnant. I had never had any symptoms before, and I had no warning signs. I was teaching in my 2nd-grade classroom. I began feeling dizzy; the next thing I remember was being on the floor looking up at my administrators and co-teachers. It wasn't until I was loaded into the ambulance that I realized I had fallen directly on my stomach. My son was born two weeks later, happy and healthy.

My seizures continued, but at the time, we didn't know they were seizures. After a year or two of tests, scans, MRIs, and seeing multiple doctors, I was diagnosed with epilepsy. Within the first five years, I had two tonic-clonic seizures and hundreds of partial seizures. I began taking medicine to treat the seizures and even met with doctors to consider brain surgery.

None of it was easy. I experienced terrible side effects from medicines, depression, fear, and confusion. I could not drive and learned to depend on those around me. I clung to God, my family, and my closest friends through it all. In 2015, I became pregnant with my second son, which was a sweet surprise. During the pregnancy, my seizures stopped. I was seizure-free for four years. I was driving again, and I even came off my medicine.

Then, in January 2020, I was in a virtual meeting with two teachers when I had a tonic-clonic seizure. I was in a small office by myself. The women on the other side of the screen immediately realized something was wrong and contacted my school. The partial seizures continued every one or two weeks. My neurologist suggested a VNS implant, which I have had for almost two years now. It has brought some security to my condition, although it has not stopped the seizures altogether.

For me, the biggest challenge is fear. Fear of the subsequent seizure, fear of long-term effects, fear that I may never drive again. I have also feared reaching out for help, but epilepsy is not a journey that should not be walked alone. My family, friends, and even my two boys now recognize my symptoms and immediately jump into action. Epilepsy is a scary condition for the people who live with it and for their loved ones.

I have much love and thanks to my family, co-workers, and those who offer us transportation so we can live our lives and get what we need, as well as my neurologist, who has been my doctor for almost ten years. There's no one else I would rather be on this journey with. I am 1 in 26, and they are my heroes.

I have learned so many life lessons and have countless amazing stories that I would not have experienced without epilepsy as a part of my story. If my story can encourage or bring hope to another, every step of this journey has been worth it.