Dan’s Story

I am a 48-year-old man from Connecticut who has lived with epilepsy since I was 17 years old. I am the youngest of 10 children, and my wonderful parents are Owen Canfield and the late Ethel Riley.

Since I was first diagnosed with epilepsy, I have had a few different procedures and operations. My first took place at Boston Children’s Hospital. That procedure involved surgeon(s) drilling multiple holes into my skull and inserting wires into different parts of my brain where they thought seizure activity came from. I did have one other procedure done in Boston after that, in which a tiny part of my brain was removed. Unfortunately, this operation did not reduce my seizures too much.

A couple of years later, my wife Annette and I moved on to Yale-New Haven Hospital to try and see if doctors there had any other options regarding stopping or, at the very least, reducing the number of seizures I was having. About a year and a half ago, my doctor at UNH told us that I was a good candidate for the neuropacemaker. I had this device implanted, and I am happy to say that, although the seizures have not stopped completely, I now go the longest amount of time in between seizures than I ever have since first being diagnosed.

I live life with my head held high. Even though I no longer work, I have taken great pride in being a good husband and a good father to our soon-to-be 14-year-old son, Eric.