Seizing Life

This week on Seizing Life Susan Axelrod, CURE Epilepsy founder, and Barbara Kelly, the founding Research Chair, discuss the past, present, and future of the organization and epilepsy research.

This week on Seizing Life® Carmen Zannier shares her 35 year epilepsy journey, discusses her recent decision to go public with her diagnosis, and explains how her passion for mountain climbing has led her to raising funds for epilepsy research.

This week on Seizing Life®, Christy and Lawrence Tsane share daughter Christiane’s epilepsy diagnosis and explain how they manage her seizures while nurturing her love of competitive running.

This week on Seizing Life® Ara Carbonneau shares her difficult and remarkable decades-long journey to an epilepsy diagnosis. Years after recovering from meningitis as an infant, Ara began experiencing seizures as a teenager. Yet, she continued to pursue her dreams, attending college and graduate school, earning her teaching certificate and masters degree, getting published and building a career.

This week on Seizing Life® we take a look at diagnostic and surgical tools that assist physicians in localizing and removing areas of the brain that produce seizures. In an episode recorded this past November at Epilepsy Awareness Day at Disneyland, Kelly speaks with several exhibitors to learn more about current and emerging technology that is helping to improve the lives of those with epilepsy.

This week on Seizing Life® epilepsy advocate and mother Kate Neale Cooper and podcast host and mother Kelly Cervantes share their experiences parenting children with epilepsy and offer advice on advocating for your child’s epilepsy care.

This week on Seizing Life® kids who either have epilepsy or who have family members with epilepsy ask pediatric neurologists about epilepsy. Dr. Kristen Park of Children’s Hospital of Colorado and Dr. Adam Numis of the UCSF Benioff Children’s Hospital answer questions on a wide variety of topics related to epilepsy in an episode recorded live at Epilepsy Awareness Day at Disneyland this past November.

This week on Seizing Life® we discuss managing epilepsy with the added stress of the holiday season. As the holidays roll around, family and personal commitments can feel like obligations, and can bring with them additional stress. Dr. Eva Alden, a Neuropsychologist at the Mayo Clinic joins us to explain the connection between stress and seizures, and offers advice, insights, and recommendations for those with epilepsy and their caregivers to help cope with stress and seizure triggers during the holidays.

In honor of Infantile Spasms Awareness week (Dec. 1 – 7, 2022), this week on Seizing Life Monica Diaz-Greco shares her daughter Emma’s epilepsy journey from initial onset and diagnosis of infantile spasms through a VNS implant and brain surgery.

This week on Seizing Life® we welcome Hannah Whitten to the podcast. Hannah’s older brother Dylan lived with epilepsy nearly his entire life, until he passed away from SUDEP at the age of 25. Though she was 5 years younger, Hannah was a constant companion to Dylan as they grew up and was often his main caregiver. She tells us about her brother’s attitude and determination not to let epilepsy define or limit his life, attending and graduating from college, working, and eventually living on his own. Hannah also talks about her experiences having a sibling with epilepsy and the impact that epilepsy has had on their family.