How Epilepsy Can Change You By Lowell Evans

Epilepsy was a health condition I had no knowledge of when I was diagnosed with the condition at 20 years of age in 1980. I had heard and seen many other health conditions with people of all ages, so it did not bother me much. Well, that is until my family and friends learned about my new neurological condition. But I was not worried, these were family and friends. People who loved me right? I asked, “Right?”

I had grown up in an area where everyone knew everyone, and I was taught to “Treat others the way you want to be treated.” For the first twenty years of my life, which is what I learned and that is what I saw. People became ill and, in my heart, and mind, I was supposed to help them in some way make it through the day. If they needed a ride to see their healthcare provider, my dad would drive them if needed and my mom would make sure they would have dinner if they were unable to cook.

When I was diagnosed with epilepsy, I was a sophomore in college with dreams of graduating and going into banking. Everyone knew how hard I worked. I was going to school full-time, working a part-time job, and playing on the college’s basketball team. I was always busy because of the example I was taught as a child. I was informed, “If you want something in life, you have to work for it.” My dad and mom had nine children, and dad raised a garden and made us work in it. I was the youngest but did not want to be treated like “The Baby” of the family. This required me to show that I could do any task I was assigned.

Coming back from the hospital after having a Tonic Clonic Seizure, my first seizure ever, I was treated like a stranger. Why? The seizure happened at 3 am on campus in my dorm room. I was taken to the hospital in an ambulance, and all my fellow students were in shock to see this taking place. When I returned, the same day, walking and talking like normal, many of the students and professors were surprised! The look on their faces was as if I was someone new to them, or someone that should not be in the same circle as them. I was bewildered.

They gathered around me and said to me things like, “When are you going to quit college?” Man, I did not know you had that thing.” “You are going to have to find a trade now? I was in awe! I asked them, “Why are you all saying these things.” Is it because I was diagnosed with epilepsy? I asked, “Do any of you all know what epilepsy is?” Not one person answered me. Not one! I realized that they had expected this neurological condition to change all the goals I had set in life. My main goal was to graduate from college. This truly made me upset because they thought that I could not be the same industrious college student, and athlete I was just 12-15 hours ago!

I was expecting my fellow students to inspire me and check on me if needed something. The way I was raised, that is what I felt would be the normal reaction. My father informed me, “Son, you must understand. You are in a different environment now. You just depend on yourself and do not change. I was not going to allow one nocturnal tonic-clonic seizure to change me! I was determined to prove that to everyone!

I called the hospital to find out more about epilepsy episodes and diagnosis, but there was a lack of information. Nobody in my family had any knowledge of it and really no one was willing to talk about it to me unless I had an appointment.

It was now that I felt all alone, but I still believed in myself. I decided to increase my semester hours from 15 to 18. I got another part-time job, I continued to play on the basketball team, and I completed My college career with no more seizure, and I graduated in 1983 on time with a BA in Sociology. I listened to one of my older relatives back home and changed my major. Years later, I ended up working for a bank as an Operations Analyst. The man who hired me saw me in college with epilepsy and he was in my corner. I had not seen him in 18 years! I feel that it was meant to be.

As I look back over the years now and realize that the night I had the seizure in my dorm changed me. If a person experiences Epilepsy, it will make them realize that something needs to be done to help the millions of people living with it in the United States and the billions of people living with it in the entire world. That is why I am dedicating my life to the cause; what a change in my life.