My name is Jesse and I am a 28-year-old man with epilepsy from Long Island, New York. I am someone who has been living with this extremely terrible neurological disorder for 22 years. My first seizure occurred at the very end of my first-grade year during June of 2004 causing me to fall without knowing.
Due to becoming an epileptic and needing to fight the epilepsy for so many years, my entire family and I have been using many different medical hospitals in the northeast. Throughout the years, I have had lots of different medical tests and had two major surgeries. My two major surgeries were a VNS implant and a RNS implant. My parents and I make sure to communicate and stay in touch with every neurologist and surgeon I have used over the years.
I am someone who has experienced lots of terrible incidents over the years from many of my bad seizures. Grand mal seizures have caused me to fall sometimes, lose consciousness, and even need to get stitches from getting hurt so badly. My bad seizures may even be without any strange hallucinations or warnings. Epilepsy has also really affected my independence, making me need to use one on ones in different schools over the years.
Living with epilepsy has also caused many different conflicts with my parents, other family members, and aids. However, I am someone who always appreciates all the love and care I get. The conflicts that I often experience mostly are tons of false claims, impossible and incapable time limits for certain things, not appropriate age treatments, extra safety reminders when not needed, and extra health awareness. By having these conflicts throughout life, I understandably have not liked to be someone with disabilities and epilepsy for so many years. It has been so hard managing to live with epilepsy and getting through life.