My Journey With Epilepsy And How I Found Life Again
I have been living with Epilepsy for twenty-five years, but I was never woken up to the fact until I turned thirty-two years old, and even then, it was a challenge. I’ll come back to that later, but first, here is a little background into who I am and how this all started.
I was born July 23, 1980, one of two twin boys. My brother was born healthy, and I was born with Hydrocephalus and Cerebral Palsy. Around the time I was ten years old, I began to develop Epilepsy. I can remember my first seizure like it was yesterday. I woke up, sheets soaked, shaking uncontrollably. My parents rushed me to the hospital and hooked me up to monitors. They were then given the news that I had Temporal Lobe Epilepsy.
Throughout the years, I was on twenty-eight different medications. All of these had terrible side effects, which made me feel ” less than normal,” which I thought growing up with CP; I was less than normal anyway.
As years passed, I would only let my thoughts get the best of me. Anger turned into hate, and fear turned into worry, making myself and my situation much worse.
Twenty-two years later, after numerous attempts to try and end my life, feeling like a failure at the work that I love to do and just plain mental exhaustion from life. Everything came to a head. In Sept of 2012, I had a series of seizures that caused me to go unconscious.
I had no idea if I would wake up from them, but thankfully I did. After weeks of testing and recovery at the hospital, I was told I was a surgery candidate.
During my recovery at home, I began to read everything I could on happiness and gratitude and posted inspiring messages on my Facebook page. After months of doing this, I realized how great it made me feel.
In February of 2013, I had my brain surgeries; after the operations, I discovered that my surgeries might not work. That the activity may spread to other areas of my brain, there was a silver lining, however. My left hand had more movement than it ever had before. I was extremely grateful for this! I noticed that I also had more clarity and focus. All awesome things!
As the months and years passed, I noticed changes in my seizure activity. The way I handle them is entirely different, though; I don’t let them get to my head, and the meditation and mindset techniques I use have allowed me to live a “normal” life.
I wake up happy and grateful for everything. Moreover, I have never been so in love with life as I am now.
My mission now is to help those with Epilepsy and other neurological disorders like mine live abundant, happy lives and thrive.
You can learn more about me on my Facebook page, Keep on Keeping on.
Thank you, and keep on keeping on!
Danny
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