Today I just wanted to start with a “Hello”. I walk through life every day like everyone else and 99% of people wouldn’t take a second look at me, or even guess that I have a medical condition, because it doesn’t put me in a wheelchair or I don’t have to use crutches. It is an invisible illness that if you pay attention you can see it in my everyday life. There are many people with this same medical condition, different types not every person handles it the same. There is over 40 different types of seizures. More than 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, making it one of the most common neurological diseases globally. Nearly 80% of people with epilepsy live in low- and middle-income countries. It has been estimated that about 1.2 percent of U.S. people have active epilepsy. This comes out to about 3.4 million people nationwide, and more than 65 million globally. Additionally, about 1 in 26 people will develop epilepsy at some point during their lifetime. Thinking about that it doesn’t mean that it will stay for long knowing that it doesn’t mean it will go with a blink of an eye. The scariest thing to add on to all this to think about is epilepsy can begin at any age from anything. It is estimate that 1 out of every 1.000 people with epilepsy die from SUDEP each year. People can also die from prolonged seizures (status epilepticus). About 22,000 to 42,000 deaths in the U.S. each year occur from these seizure emergencies. What is SUDEP you ask? Great question! SUDEP stands for
Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy. Scariest thing to happen to a parent to watch their child die and not to be able to do anything besides know they did everything they could. To be the husband or wife and watch or wake up to your loved one gone. or watch that one last seizure and a medical team try and save them and not be able to do anything. The sibling unsure how to help but all sudden your brother or sister isn’t there anymore. There is so much research being done but so many types of seizures and alot still un-found and still trails and errors. Seizures are still something people are scared of and when comes to the job market people run from the word seizure and don’t listen to anything. they picture the worse they don’t want to get the rest of the education. So many types if seizures out there and none are the same. For me I can do anything anyone else can do I just need my 8 hours of sleep to refocus and breath. I need to be able to de-stress and at times i need a few more breaks but I will speak up when I need to recenter and breath, sometimes takes me little bit longer to learn what I need to but that is why I take notes. For others it may not be as easy everyone has their own strengths and weakness and we all have our own voice.
Hiding in the Shadows 