Cole Donnelly

My first seizure happened while I was in grade 10. I had a few of my buddies stay over one night, and come early morning my epileptic shock began.

My arms became tense and started to shake a little as they came closer to my body. My buddy had begun kicking me back because he was under the impression I was messing with him. They repeatedly asked if I was okay but I couldn’t respond. A few seconds later everything went black and I became unconscious. When I opened my eyes my friends were gone and I was surrounded by strangers, at least that’s what I thought. There were firefighters, paramedics, and even my parents trying to calm me down, none of whom I recognized. I panicked and fought everyone around me until they could finally calm me down.

When I arrived at the hospital the easy diagnosis was that I was a kid so I had been messing around with drugs the night before. I continued to swear I would never touch the stuff, but I wasn’t taken seriously until my blood results came back showing that I had been telling the truth. I had been stuck in the hospital for two weeks before they discovered I have epilepsy, and that it’s genetic. This came as a shock to my family considering we have no record of any relatives with epilepsy.

I was put on dilantin for a year but did not like all the side effects from the drug. I talked to my specialist and was told that as long as I kept a balanced lifestyle (watch stress levels, eat properly, limit alcohol consumption in future) it was alright to go off my medication. Seven years went by without any issues, until last April when I had a seizure at work. This one seemed to be different because of all the signs leading up to it. The couple weeks leading up to the seizure I noticed my tremors had been getting worse from all the energy drinks, stress, and lack of sleep during exam time. I have now lost my license for a minimum of 6 months and been put back on the medication that I had been trying to stay away from.

This seizure helps remind me that life can change in a second and if you just listen to your body and make some sacrifices it will tell you what it needs, so hopefully they can be prevented in the future.