Peterborough resident Kerry Jenkins says the deep brain stimulation (DBS) surgery she had in December 2012 has offered her a new lease on life. While the surgery reduced the number of seizures she was having by nearly half, what has helped her in her journey has been the support of her husband and in-laws and the time she’s spent helping others.
Before her surgery, Kerry, 45, had coped with tonic-clonic seizures since August 2000. She says the condition had a devastating effect on her physical and mental health as well as her personal life.
For Kerry, like so many others with epilepsy, life has been a road with many obstacles. Her marriage ended because of her condition, which also strained her relationship with one of her children. She lost her driver’s licence because of her epilepsy, which presented transportation challenges for her, as she was living in Lindsay at the time and had to travel more than 40 kilometres to her job in Peterborough every day.
With the challenges presented by her condition adding up, Kerry says she saw little hope for the future. Clinical depression set in and became so severe that on two occasions she almost committed suicide.
After several trials and surgeries, Kerry’s tonic-clonic seizures stopped and she had approximately eight temporal lobe seizures per month. Of these, there were four different types of seizures. The DBS surgery has stopped two of the four types of seizures completely and reduced the number of seizures to approximately three per month.
Following her surgery, Kerry wanted to do something to make a difference in her community. She began volunteering with the Special Olympics in Lindsay. Her volunteer work opened her eyes to the fact many people are accepting of her condition.
This came to light during a Special Olympics bowling tournament where she was volunteering. Kerry had a seizure during the event. Afterwards, she called the event organizer, offering to stop volunteering out of concern that her seizure upset the event’s athletes and attendees.
“(The organizer) said to me, ‘Are you kidding? You’re coming back — I’ve had calls from athletes and their families to find out if you’re OK.’ They picked me up that next Friday night and every one of those athletes lined up and hugged me,” Kerry recalls.
Another important part of Kerry’s new life has been the support she has received from her second husband, James, whom she wed five years ago. Kerry says James and everyone in his family understands her condition and is accepting; in fact, her husband’s former wife had epilepsy.
When the two began dating, Kerry was living with her mother because her condition made living alone dangerous. As a show of support, James moved in with Kerry and her mother to help the couple adapt to living together.
Looking back on how her life has transformed thanks to her surgery and her supportive family, Kerry says she has an important message for others living with a seizure disorder.
“No matter how bad it gets, it can always get better, you just have to keep going,” she says. “Even though you have to go through a lot . . . things do get better — you just have to keep trying.”
Writer: Deron Hamel
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