We have been watching James struggle with seizures and epilepsy for ten years now. For ten years we tried to find something that would overpower his seizures…and we might have finally found it. I say ‘might’ because we’ve seen several medications work in the beginning only to have the seizures overpower them. It’s kind of like a waiting game. And it sucks. You hope that this is the med that has finally offered your kid relief from seizures, only to be let down when they come roaring back.
The death of Cameron Boyce earlier this year was a reminder that James’ epilepsy fight will probably never be over. For those of you who don’t know who Cameron is, he was an actor in a few Disney TV shows and movies that James watches. He died in July from SUDEP (sudden unexplained death in epilepsy). He was only 20 years old.
Stacy will be posting daily epilepsy facts on James’ Facebook page throughout the month of November, which is Epilepsy Awareness Month. I will be compiling those daily facts into two blog posts. This first post will have the facts from days 1 through 15. The second post, which I plan to put up on the 30th, will include days 16 through 30.
Stacy is also having her annual epilepsy awareness Thirty-One party and will donate 20% of sales to the Epilepsy Foundation of Greater Chicago. If you want to get a jumpstart on some holiday shopping while helping to support a good cause you can check it out here:
https://www.mythirtyone.com/627441/shop/Party/EventDetail/10926852
If you don’t see anything you like, or would rather donate directly to the Epilepsy Foundation Greater Chicago, their donation page can be found here.
Day 1
Day 2
Day 3
Day 4
We believe that James had his first seizure 4 days before he was born. He had several seizures in the NICU after he was born and was officially diagnosed with epilepsy when he was 5 months old.
Day 5
Fingers crossed, but we think we finally found seizure control after 10 years!
Day 6
James has both cerebral palsy and epilepsy.
Day 7
This is one of our biggest fears.
Day 8
Day 9
Day 10
These are older images, so we are not sure if these statistics have changed.
Day 11
Day 12
Day 13
There is no cure for epilepsy, but there are so many prescription and non-prescription ways to help control seizures. That’s why we raise funds every November to help the Epilepsy Foundation Greater Chicago find ways to help kids & adults with epilepsy.
Day 14
Day 15
Thank you for taking the time to learn more about epilepsy. If you would like to help us in this fight, check out Stacy’s Thirty-One party here, or consider donating directly to the Epilepsy Foundation Greater Chicago.
