Channing had her first seizure in 2003, just before her tenth birthday. After that, everything was different.
Days were spent in bed, watching others’ lives move forward. Career dreams and passions were tossed out the window.
The more seizures she had, the less school she was able to attend, and Channing went from being a straight A student to barely passing.
Friends turned into caregivers, relentlessly asking the question, “Are you okay?”
In 2007, a VEEG revealed that Channing’s epilepsy was a lifelong diagnosis, and that made it all the more difficult to come to terms with.
Days were spent in bed, watching others’ lives move forward. Career dreams and passions were tossed out the window.
The more seizures she had, the less school she was able to attend, and Channing went from being a straight A student to barely passing.
Friends turned into caregivers, relentlessly asking the question, “Are you okay?”
In 2007, a VEEG revealed that Channing’s epilepsy was a lifelong diagnosis, and that made it all the more difficult to come to terms with.
Transportation became an issue, as seizures kept her from driving, and the older Channing got, the more the stigma of epilepsy reared its ugly head. In 2011, she was asked to leave Colorado Mountain College.
For twenty years now, Channing’s been a dart board at which doctors have thrown drugs at an epilepsy that ultimately proved to be drug resistant - age-old drugs like Depakote, new cutting-edge drugs like Epidiolex, and devices like the Vagus Nerve Stimulator.
For twenty years now, Channing’s been a dart board at which doctors have thrown drugs at an epilepsy that ultimately proved to be drug resistant - age-old drugs like Depakote, new cutting-edge drugs like Epidiolex, and devices like the Vagus Nerve Stimulator.
So, where was Channing going to find quality of life?
Ultimately, she found it in advocating for others, and inspiring them to join her in the arena in the fight against drug-resistant epilepsy.
Ultimately, she found it in advocating for others, and inspiring them to join her in the arena in the fight against drug-resistant epilepsy.
