A Woman in Control: Author Stacey Chillemi gives others with epilepsy a reason to stay strong.

The first moment of clarity arrived in college. "I developed epilepsy when I was 5; they believe it was caused by encephalitis," she says. "In those years, epilepsy was so hush-hush. So by the time I got to college, I wanted some information. "When I checked the college library (at then-Stockton State College, Galloway), they had maybe five books with information and all of it was written by and for doctors," she adds. "It was way over my head.

I wanted something that the average person could understand." Chillemi, who is married to Michael Chillemi, a chiropractor they have two sons, ages 7 and 4, and a daughter, 2 figured the most obvious thing to do was to write her own story. In the process, she discovered her story helped others with the affliction. She began writing books at the end of the 1990s, by which point she had married and, determined to live a full and "normal" life, had become pregnant.

Chillemi has since written five books, including her debut book, "Epilepsy: You're Not Alone An Epileptic's View on How to Cope With the Disorder," and another, prompted by raising her own children, "My Mommy Has Epilepsy."

She does not drive because of her epilepsy, and she has had seizures in front of her children. That, she says, moved her to record her own experiences in book form. "All kinds of people have epilepsy and it's not something you develop only when you're young or because you're poor or any of the usual cliches," she says. "But it is something that you have to believe you can live with, so you can pursue a happy and safe life.

My goal is to help people with epilepsy learn how to accept and love themselves." Website: http://stores.lulu.com/staceychil