Getting along in school is never an easy matter. Think back
on it. There's the schoolwork, the teachers, the other
children in your class, the other children in the classes
above you. In fact, it's really a wonder that most children
seem to fare so well in such a complex house of potentially
divided interests. With that in mind, have a ponder about
this scenario . . .
A child is in class and, out of the blue, with a strange
grunting sound, he falls rigidly to the floor; within a short
time his whole body shakes, his mouth foams and gradually,
gradually, he is still.
Now, I wonder how that child will get along in school the
next day?
Try another scenario, another child. This child is sitting in
class, the teacher is talking about fractions and this child
stops hearing her, just for a minute or two or even less.
Somehow she doesn't quite get it. What the teacher is saying
now seems not to fit. She has no conscious realization that
she missed a part of the explanation. The child next to her
probably didn't even notice that she was `out.' This can
happen to her several times a day.
I wonder what the parent hears at the parents' evenings of
her daughter's school . . .
One more example, this time in the playground. The children
are playing ball. One child catches the ball but his arm
starts uncontrollably twitching. Half of his face on the same
side as the twitchy arm appears distorted. The other children
impatiently shout for the ball. Perhaps he can hear them;
even if he can, he can't control his arm and must wait until
the twitching subsides.
Do you think his friends will want to play with him next
time?
EPILEPSY! The very word conjures up images of superstition,
witchcraft and the Middle Ages. Isn't it like smallpox, polio
and T.B. — a thing of the past? Why, you never hear of
it nowadays.
Wrong! One percent of the population suffers from epilepsy
and of that one percent, a great majority is children.
Many parents have to face the confusion, worry and sometimes
terror of witnessing their child's first epileptic seizures
followed by the DIAGNOSIS, followed by . . . . . . ..
I will leave that to your imagination. Epilepsy can strike
from birth onwards. Most forms of epilepsy have no known
cause. Most forms of epilepsy are not passed on genetically.
Most forms of epilepsy are eminently treatable; 80% of cases
are completely controlled with drug treatment within two
years.
Most people think of an epileptic seizure in terms of a
sudden collapse followed by uncontrollable twitching and
perhaps frothing at the mouth. In actuality, there are many
different forms of seizure, depending upon which part of the
brain is affected by the epileptic activity.
Parents who have to face that DIAGNOSIS will hopefully find
out all about this and much more too. They will also wait in
interminable lines to do all sorts of tests and see all sorts
of doctors. They will have to persuade their child to take
medicine morning and night, day by day by day. They will have
to decide whom to tell. They will have to find a way of
telling the child who has epilepsy about what is wrong with
him. What do they say to their other children? What about
their grandparents, aunts, uncles, and cousins? What will
happen in school? What about shidduchim!
People with epilepsy can live perfectly normal lives.
Within two years of starting treatment, most sufferers will
not have seizures, as long as they take their medicine.
People with controlled/balanced epilepsy can learn Torah, run
a house, have children, drive, swim, and work at nearly every
job/profession. Someone whose epilepsy is not completely
controlled can still learn Torah, run a family, have
children, swim, cycle, and work at nearly every
job/profession. In the heart of Geula, in a little one-story
building, there is a welcoming open door for all those who
face epilepsy. The office of EYAL, the Israeli Epilepsy
Association, is full of informative pamphlets and booklets.
Members of the Association can drop in for anything from a
chat and a cup of coffee to a professional counseling
session. The professional staff goes out to schools of
members' children to explain to the staff and the children
all about epilepsy. EYAL (Israeli Epilepsy Association) was
responsible for persuading the relevant committees to add two
more epilepsy treatments to the National Health Insurance
`medicine basket' or sal habriut. One percent of the
population suffers from epilepsy and that means that
approximately one in a hundred of the people who are reading
this suffer from epilepsy. A call to 02-5000283 will put you
in touch with people who are there to help you in any way
they can.
Meanwhile, for those other 99%, please understand that
epileptic seizures are caused by an increased electrical
activity in some area of the brain. Epilepsy is not
infectious. People who have epilepsy are not dangerous.
People who have epilepsy are just like you and me in every
way apart from when they have a seizure, which can happen to
them once a year, once every few months, or, in severe cases
once a week or, very rarely, several times a day.
Epileptic seizures can range from the dramatic to the
unnoticeable [momentary blackouts called `petit mal']. Some
childhood epilepsy disappears by teenagehood. There are many
happy thriving Jewish homes where the mother, the father or
one of the children have epilepsy. They would be doing even
better if the society around them understood . . . If there
was an acceptance of their condition as just that, a
condition that affects a very small part of their lives.
Every neshomoh is a whole world!
Batya Jacobs Social Worker EYAL Israel Epilepsy
Association.
Batya Jacobs BSW BSc(ECON) is a mother of ten and a
writer.
