Hello!

Hi there! Nice to meet you all! My name is Rachel, I’m 22 and I have epilepsy. Despite the fact that this is the way I’ve introduced myself to you, I have always fought to not let my epilepsy define me. I may have epilepsy but I am also a daughter, a sister, a fiancée and a granddaughter. I am a Christian and I know that while I have an earthly father, I also have a heavenly one and He loves me beyond what I can imagine. I’m blessed with some of the best friends this planet has to offer and I love them so dearly! I love musical theatre, Harry Potter and swimming. I am rarely seen not listening to music unless I’m at work, much to the chagrin of those around me and even though I have no skill, I love to make those around me laugh with my terrible dancing!

Anyway… That’s me without epilepsy but epilepsy has impacted me pretty heavily since I was tiny. I had my first seizure at the age of eleven months old which was linked to an infection at the time but wasn’t diagnosed until roughly six months later when seizures started up again and not really stopping until I was put on anti-epileptic medication. I spent a lot of my early years in and out of hospital, being blue-lighted in by ambulances. My epilepsy journey since then has very much been up and down with the main trajectory being upwards but with some pretty low dips.

The epilepsy team at the John Radcliffe Hospital have now managed to control one of my types of generalised seizure so I’m in a much better place than I used to be. However, I still am affected by one of my seizures on a daily basis. Sometimes my seizures are bad enough to affect my job but most of the time I am unaffected, though I will be talking more on that at a later time. I am so grateful to God and the doctors He’s used for the level of control I now have in regards to my seizures. It hasn’t always been an easy road to get here though and it is that experience I want to share with you on this blog. I am hoping to discuss different topics and different aspects of life that have been affected by my epilepsy, and share some of my stories, and lessons I have learned. I’m hoping by doing this that it can be of some encouragement to help others to realise that they aren’t alone and that they can learn from some of my mistakes. I’m also hoping that even though every epilepsy journey is different, that sharing mine might help those who have no prior knowledge to maybe learn a little more about how complex epilepsy can be.

And so, this is me...Doing Life in Lavender x