McHENRY Phil Abraham had a healthy, normal childhood until at age 11 he began having recurring seizures that sent him into a spiral of depression and memory loss.
Thanks to a simple procedure, Abraham, now 51, is living a drastically better life.
Abraham, of Island Lake, is one of 50 million people worldwide affected by epilepsy. According to the Epilepsy Foundation of America, epilepsy is the third most common neurological disorder, with nearly 200,000 new cases diagnosed annually.
I cant remember my first seizure at all, Abraham said. I was just kicking along like a normal kid and playing on the hood of my dads car. I was acting like Tarzan and hit my head on a tree branch.
I cant recall much after that.
In the years since, Abraham has been prescribed anti-convulsion medications, which have had only a small effect.
He now takes five different medications for his seizures.
Even with his seizure control medication, he was still experiencing two to four seizures a week, taking nearly an hour to recover from each, said Abrahams wife of 18 years, Mary, 55.
Because of the seizures, Phil Abraham is unemployed and is no longer able to drive.
He also has memory loss due to the number of seizures he has experienced, said Abrahams McHenry-based neurologist, Dr. Robert Kohn. That is because many seizures arrive in the hippocampus, the part of the human brain that controls short-term memory.
See the original post:
Island Lake epilepsy patient finds seizure relief