Our daughter was diagnosed with epilepsy at 5 years old. Despite subtle signs, her seizures went unnoticed until we visited the emergency room. After exhausting medications and consultations, we faced the reality of epilepsy surgery. The decision was agonizing, but at age 6, she underwent successful surgery—a craniotomy and occipital/parietal cortical dysplasia resection. The road to recovery was daunting, but the outcome was miraculous: she has been seizure-free and off of all epilepsy medications since that year.
I decided to become a peer supporter because when I was going through this journey, I spoke with everyone I could find who knew anything about epilepsy. We were blessed to find another family with a child who had epilepsy surgery while we were in the hospital for SPECT scans. The mother kindly took some time away from her own child to share her family’s experience with me. While we were still absolutely terrified of the surgery and potential complications, it was so helpful to have another parent who understood what we were facing. Last year, I found myself chatting with the mother of a recently diagnosed son about our daughter’s journey. I was so happy to be able to be a resource in her time of crisis. I would be happy to be a knowledgable listener for other families in the future.