I would like for everyone to take just a few minutes and put yourself in the shoes of someone living with epilepsy. I promise you, you will never look at epilepsy in the same way.
A daughter never got to experience her father walk her down the aisle, on what was supposed to be the best day of her life. A precious baby boy never got to celebrate his first Birthday. An excited bride only got to enjoy a few hours of her wedding day. A young college student never got to finish her cross county running career. A teenage girl never got to experience her first pumpkin spice latte. Two parents had to bury their only child. A senior in college was not able to walk across stage to receive his diploma. A teacher only got two years to mold the minds of elementary aged students. A senior graduates dream of becoming a pilot never came true. All these beautiful souls’ lives were cut short due to epilepsy.

 
The day I was diagnosed with epilepsy was the day that changed my life forever. Living in the shadows of epilepsy is like living in a constant nightmare. You never know when a seizure might strike. Can you imagine living a life with a silent killer lurking behind you? Am I going to have a seizure today? Will I need to depend on a stranger to save me life? Will this stranger know what to do if I’m having a seizure? Did I take my medication today? Will a side effect from my medication interfere with my day? If I have a seizure will it last longer than 5 minutes? Will I hit my head? Will I bust a tooth? Did I get enough sleep last night? Will this be my last day on earth? When I go to bed, will I wake up the next morning. The fear of the unknown is horrendous and nonstop

I had my first seizure at the age of 14 years, and I was diagnosed with epilepsy my second week of high school. Talk about a horrible time to get diagnosed. After the doctor told me I had epilepsy, I thought my life was over. How was I supposed to live a normal teenage life? My doctors were able to control my seizures with a medication called Depakote, but just because my seizures were controlled, didn’t mean life wasn’t a struggle. My medication made me gain 40 pounds in 6 months, I was losing hair, and my cognition was impaired. So not only was I dealing with the insecurities of epilepsy, I was dealing with the insecurities of weight gain, the way I looked, and slacking grades. Finally, I said enough was enough and I was put on a new medication, but my struggles still weren’t over yet. I was put on Lamictal which I had to slowly taper onto and I slowly had to taper off of Depakote. So, at one point I had very little medication in my system which triggered seizures. Until I was able to find the correct dose of Lamictal I struggled with having seizure after seizure. For months I had to deal the feeling of a stranger taking over my body, causing my body to have violent jerks. A few months later I was able to get my seizures controlled and finally felt like I was normal. I was able to get my driver’s license and feel like a normal teenager. Though Lamictal controls my seizures I still deal with side effects such as double vision and hand tremors, but I have learned to live with it.

Finally, one day I woke up and decided I wasn’t going to let epilepsy control my life anymore. Having epilepsy isn’t an excuse for me not to follow my dreams. So for the first time me and my shadow became one. My shadow wasn’t going to be my enemy any longer, my shadow was going to become my strength. I became an advocate for epilepsy, I went on a received 2 college degrees, and now I am living my dream as a registered neuroscience nurse. For the first time in my life I had epilepsy, but epilepsy didn’t have me.

Now I am attempting to persuade you on the importance of epilepsy awareness and education.
Very few people apprehend how serious epilepsy is and that it kills around 55,000 Americans a year, which is more than breast cancer. Yet you don’t see epilepsy being supported by the NFL by wearing purple. The Dallas Cowboys don’t sell purple merchandise in their online shop. Hallmark doesn’t make a special epilepsy awareness ornament for Christmas time. Ford Motor Co. doesn’t raise $133 million for epilepsy awareness. Can you tell me that you’ve seen Yoplait yogurt with purple tops?
If epilepsy and seizure related deaths kill more people than breast cancer, than why aren’t they being treated justly? What’s the difference between epilepsy and cancer? I can name 3 things off the top of my head that they both have in common. One, they both take innocent lives, two they both have treatments with bad side effects, and three both diagnosis’s can be to late.

Each year, the National Institutes of Health spends $30 billion on medical research, but just one-half of 1 percent is spent on epilepsy. That’s right, only one-half of 1 percent. One in every 26 Americans have epilepsy, which adds up to 3.4 million people, so chances are you’ve met multiple people living with epilepsy. Even though 1 in every 10 Americans will have some kind of seizure in their life, the public is still hugely unaware of its condition.
So, please help us end this silent epidemic and support epilepsy awareness.