Marc’s Story
Hi, my name is Marc, I am 45 yrs. old. I was born in the Netherlands. We immigrated to Canada in 1982. I have lived in different cities in Ontario and Saskatchewan. I currently live in Peterborough, Ontario.
I have lived with full active epilepsy since I was 14 years old (in 1991). It all started with a grand mal seizure in the middle of the night. After some doctor’s appointments with some specialists, they determined it is all due to a bike accident when I was 9 years old. It resulted in brain damage in the right temporal. Of course, back in the day, bike helmets were not even a thought. After the accident, I just had some scratches and bruises and they let me go home. All I had from that time on was “dizzy spells” and was told it was from me growing tall so fast.
Since 1991, they have experimented with a wide variety of medications and tests. I still had continual grand mal and partial seizures. But I also had a great family to take care of me during these times.
In 1995, they offered me brain surgery in Saskatoon. They tried to repair the damage in the right temporal lobe. Unfortunately, It was not a success. After the surgery, I continued to have grand mal and partial “faze out” seizures. I was still trying out different medications and portions of them. They didn’t work. But, for some reason, my last grand mal seizure was in 2006.
In 2012, they tested me to undergo so more tests for a possible second surgery. But they said it would be too much of a risk for more memory loss etc. There have been a lot of different types of Partial Seizure stories over the years that have affected my whole family.
In 2018, I survived a massive cardiac arrest, I was dead for approximately 12 minutes. If it was not for my, wife and kids, especially my son Peter and my Lord and Saviour, I would not be alive to tell the story. This was not by the influence of epilepsy. I do now have to mix my epilepsy meds with the heart meds, and it doesn’t seem to influence it.
My life these days… I can still get a full day of partial seizures approximately every 3 months. I deal with a substantial amount of memory loss (it was also an effect of all the meds and cardiac arrest). I am not able to receive a driver’s license (which is the biggest inconvenience that affects me every day), I do have an awesome family (my wife and 3 children), I work full time, travel, and try to live life to the fullest. I need to accept life with epilepsy and count my blessings 1 by 1 and focus on all the blessings God has given me.