The story of an Epilepsy sufferer

Susan Griffin has battled epilepsy for 27 years. As part of National Epilepsy Week she speaks to CORINNE MCPARTLAND about living with the condition and helping young sufferers.

SUSAN was diagnosed with epilepsy when she was eight years old, three months after suffering head injuries in a car crash.

Her mother Lynn Savill, of St George's Drive, Gravesham, was brushing her daughter's hair when she had her first epileptic fit.

She said: "Her eyes glazed over and she wouldn't speak.

"We didn't know it was a fit and it wasn't until she had a seizure at school she was diagnosed."

Susan, now 35, of Valley Drive, Gravesham, was put on 29 tablets a day and describes her time at St George's School as "a blurry haze because I was drugged up to the eyeballs.

"Children used to make fun of my seizures and tell people not to sit next to me in case they caught fits'."

Before each seizure Susan gets a metallic taste in her mouth.

She said: "I don't know what is happening until I come round and feel exhausted."

Susan was having more than 80 fits a day as a child but the seizures fell to around two a day when she started work in her early 20s.

When she was 25, Susan began to carve out a successful career as a personal assistant for a mailing company until she was hit by a motorbike after having a fit in the road.

She suffered shock but went back to work the next day.

But Susan believes she was sacked by a new manager a few months later because of her epilepsy.

At 28 she began working as a counsellor for the Gravesham Epilepsy Network, which was set up by her mother 25 years ago.

Lynn set up the organisation three years after Susan was diagnosed.

Lynn said: "There was no real information for people with epilepsy so I decided to set up a network."

‘You can live a normal, happy life with epilepsy.’

SUSAN GRIFFIN

She added: "People can call up and receive information as well as meet up with people and see they are not alone."

More than 456,000 people in the UK have epilepsy.

Epilepsy can develop at any age.

However, it is diagnosed most often before the age of 20 and after the age of 60.

Lynn was worried epilepsy would not let her daughter lead a normal life.

Susan said: "Lots of parents wrap their children in cotton wool and I'm glad mine didn't.

"My message to young people with epilepsy is to take every opportunity given to you.

"Don't become isolated and you can live a normal, happy life with epilepsy."

Susan got married in August 2003 to David Griffin, 51, but cannot have children due to the medication she has to take.

She said: "I live a normal, happy life.

"My husband is so supportive. He is my rock."

She added: "If someone gave me the chance to take away epilepsy I would say no because it is part of my life and has made me the person I am today."

FACTS ABOUT THE CONDITION MORE than 456,000 people in the UK have epilepsy.

Epilepsy is more than three times as common as Multiple Sclerosis, Parkinson's disease and Cerebral Palsy.

More than 75 cases are diagnosed each day.

Epilepsy can develop at any age.

It is diagnosed most often before the age of 20 and after the age of 60.

After a patient is diagnosed with epilepsy they begin taking anti-epileptic medication.

This treatment controls seizures in around 52 per cent of patients.

There are approximately 1,000 epilepsy-related deaths each year.

The condition claims more lives in England and Wales each year than AIDS and cot death combined.