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Living Enthusiastically with Epilepsy
by Samantha Delany, reprinted with kind permission from The Hamilton Spectator
Feeling sick yet again, Melissa Seichter stayed home from school that day last year. Hearing a loud thump, her mother rushed upstairs.Addie Seichter guessed her 16-year-old had fallen out of bed, but she was unprepared for what she saw.
"She was on the floor, shaking and jerking," say Seichter, "I panicked."
The next thing Melissa remembers is waking up at McMaster Children's Hospital, undergoing seemingly endless MRIs, EEGs, CT scans and blood tests. The diagnosis? Epilepsy--something the family knew nothing about. Melissa had been staying home from school more and more during the past year.
She would be sick to her stomach, smell burnt odours, feel numb in her arms and legs and see images from memories of past events. "We realized that the funny feelings Melissa was having all along (were) seizures," said Seichter.
"My life (has) dramatically changed through this ordeal," Melissa, now 17, writes in an essay about living with epilepsy. As well as having brain surgery to alleviate her seizures, she is not able to compete in some sports, needs help with homework and can't drive a car or swim in the deep end of a pool. "As a result, I have built enthusiastic strategies to live with my disability: Most importantly, I think positive," she writes.
The essay helped the Grade 12 student at Bishop Tonnos Secondary School earn one of 12 $1,000 scholarships awarded by Epilepsy Ontario and Osler Business Consulting Ltd, to help young people with epilepsy continue their education.
Epilepsy is a neurological disorder in which clusters of nerve cells in the brain signal abnormally, causing multiple seizures. It can develop at any age. Seichter said she was "shocked" when she found out her daughter had epilepsy. "I mean you don't expect it. You have a kid who's healthy all her life and all of a sudden--boom--it changes."
About 42 Canadians are diagnosed with epilepsy every day, according to Epilepsy Canada. The disorder affects 1.3 per cent of Canadians or about 300,000 people. The cause is unknown and there is no cure, although conventional and alternative treatments such as drugs, surgery and nerve stimulation may stop seizures.
Melissa tried a variety of drugs with little improvement. On bad days, she would have seizures almost every five minutes. Fed up with repeatedly switching medications, Melissa opted for surgery early this year at Toronto's Hospital for Sick Children--a temporal lobectomy, which entails removal of a part of the brain that causes seizures. Now she has only five or six seizures a day.
"If you were talking to her, she couldn't respond. But she can hear and understand you. It doesn't hurt," explained Seichter. It's the positive attitude Melissa talks about in her essay that has really helped her cope with epilepsy's challenges.
"In the past," Melissa says, "I was a member of St. Thomas Moore's basketball team and on (Hamilton Basketball Association) teams. For now, however, I attend and support my two younger (brothers) and teach them techniques."
While she can still play badminton competitively, she cannot swim for her school since her seizures make it dangerous for her to go in the deep end of the pool. Instead she times laps for the team.
Before her diagnosis, Melissa was one of the top academic students in her grade. Now, she still makes the honour roll by re-reading material several times because the surgery has caused some memory loss.
"In some ways, I now feel stronger," Melissa says, adding she hopes to study commerce at McMaster University starting in September. Perhaps the biggest difference is that she no longer takes life for granted.
"You appreciate homework help with your sister, going to the cottage with your family, having parents there when you're in the hospital having tests done, and having friends around to support you." Says her friend Andrea Galli: "(Melissa is) dealing really well. It's actually kind of amazing."
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