A Post-Traumatic Epilepsy Journey: Diagnosis Acceptance Leads to Career Helping Others

This week on Seizing Life ® Mark DeFee shares his 26-year journey with post-traumatic epilepsy. Mark tells his personal PTE story from his diagnosis as a high school Senior following multiple concussions sustained playing high school football, through his years of denial and living recklessly in college, to his acceptance and efforts to manage his seizures, ultimately leading to a successful career counseling others.

Mark speaks about the social, psychological, and physical impacts of both his epilepsy and the anti-seizure medications prescribed to control his seizures. He talks openly about his desire to keep his diagnosis a secret in college and the risky choices he made during his early years in school including joining a fraternity, drinking, and hiding his nocturnal seizures. Mark also shares the epiphany he experienced during a study abroad program his Junior year, and how it initiated a change in his outlook and behavior that led him to consciously create a lifestyle that would allow him to manage his epilepsy and live a fun, productive, fulfilling life during his last two years in school. This change ultimately opened the door for Mark to pursue a career in mental health as a counselor, and he provides advice for others going through the stages of accepting their own epilepsy diagnosis. Mark’s story, experiences, and insights will provide guidance and hope for both people navigating epilepsy and those who love them.

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