Carpe D-Watkins: Seize Your Attitude

Imagine – you’re 15 years old and about to walk through the magical gates of Disneyland in beautiful California. Suddenly, you feel yourself start to lose consciousness amid a large group of fellow mouseketeers. Next thing you realize is your only ride for the day will be in your parents’ car, after you’ve received an explanation from a stranger that you may have just had a seizure. This is how Danielle Watkins, 28, came to discover she had epilepsy. It’s been a roller coaster ride ever since.

Paws for The Cause

On the eve of meeting his first seizure assistance dog, 10-year-old Nathan Schoonover, from Tomah, Wisconsin, excitedly anticipates life with his future yellow Labrador/ best friend, Bella. Meanwhile, Nathan’s grandmother Florette, and single mother Kari, recount the family’s journey to this point.

Stephen Allen Bikes the Colorado Trail

It has been over 4 years since Seize the World Foundation founder, Stephen Allen, completed his round the world bicycle tour to raise awareness for epilepsy. In fact, Seize the World was founded as a conduit to inform the world of this tour and inspire others living with epilepsy. In July, Stephen embarked on another inspirational adventure, a 2-week mountain bikepacking tour of the Colorado Trail.

Ride Your Own Course

The children I’ve taught over the past twenty years never got into a panic when I had seizures. I think this was a good experience for them because they learned about epilepsy and because they got to see that there’s more than one type of seizure. My position has also given me the opportunity to teach my students about the different types of seizures and about how to help those with epilepsy.

A Thicker Skin

In September of 2009, Seize the World interviewed Deanna Adams just after she completed the Great Divide Mountain Bike Race (GDMBR). Deanna is a vegan athlete from Prescott, Arizona. She also has Idiopathic Generalized Epilepsy and suffers from Grand Mal seizures. However, this did not stop her from becoming the youngest woman to complete the race on a fixed gear bicycle or “fixie” at age 20.

Paying It Forward

Tina White is a 36-year-old mother of two living in Denver, Colorado. Tina also has epilepsy and suffers from tonic-clonic (grand mal) and complex partial seizures. Epilepsy has been a huge hurdle, but Tina has overcome many challenges with help from a generous community that includes her family and her friends as well as a chocolate lab named Jersey who is a trained epilepsy alert dog. She has also helped herself through her own perseverance and acceptance.

There Is No Strength Where There Is No Struggle

Rebecca has decided to embrace perseverance and optimism, finding happiness through her work, and even helping others to find ways to live more independently through her work with an organization called Domesti-Pups.

Conquering Your Fear

Debra Winsor brings true meaning to the term “citizen of the world,” and declares, “I do not let epilepsy run my life.”

Faith In Me

John summited Mount St. Helens with his father Tom, as part of an effort to raise funding and awareness for epilepsy. The climb, called “Stop the Eruption,” was a great success and was even covered on national TV. Epilepsy has been a serious condition for most of his life, but the words, “I can’t” are not part of John’s vocabulary!