Seizing Life

This week on Seizing Life epilepsy researcher Dr. Nicholas Varvel discusses the connection between acquired epilepsy and inflammation in the brain. Dr. Varvel explains how and why some people may develop epilepsy following a brain injury, infection, or illness, and shares how discoveries made through his research could lead to new treatments for preventing the onset of seizures.

This week on Seizing Life ®, Dr. Doug Nordli, Chief of Pediatric Neurology at UChicago Medicine, provides a guide to help parents navigate diagnosing epilepsy in their children and understand the treatment journey.

This week on Seizing Life we present short videos about three key areas of epilepsy research on which we focus: Post-Traumatic Epilepsy (PTE), Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP), and Refractory (or Drug-Resistant) epilepsy.

This week on Seizing Life ®, Yssa DeWoody of Ring14 USA and the Rare Epilepsy Network (REN) joins us to provide a primer on rare epilepsies. Yssa explains what rare epilepsies are and how they are diagnosed, potential treatments, and the particular challenges for those impacted.

This week on Seizing Life® we focus on mental health in children with epilepsy. Madison Berl, a pediatric neuropsychologist at Children’s National Hospital in Washington, D.C. joins us to provide an overview of comorbid mental health issues that may arise in children and teens with epilepsy.

This week on Seizing Life ® Jim Abrahams, creator of some of the biggest comedy films of all-time, shares his son’s troubling and remarkable epilepsy journey to seizure freedom through the ketogenic diet.

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.

This week on Seizing Life®, Channing Seideman shares her epilepsy story from her first seizure and initial diagnosis at nine years old through her long and varied treatment journey to a revised diagnosis of juvenile myoclonic epilepsy.

This week on Seizing Life college student Kiara Mowat shares her epilepsy journey from her diagnosis in 2018 at age 14 to her first year in college at McMaster University in Hamilton, Ontario. Hear this personal epilepsy story from an amazing young woman who is determined not to let seizures overwhelm her goals and ambitions.

Today on Seizing Life we welcome Gardiner Lapham back to the podcast. Gardiner is one of the co-founders of PAME, a collaboration of health care providers, researchers, scientists, public health officials, patient advocates, caregivers, bereaved families, and people living with epilepsy with the goal of improving our understanding of and working to prevent epilepsy-related mortality.