
My name is Araceli Lopez and my dad is Richard Lopez, and he has epilepsy. Heās had it for 29 years. He has the NeuroPace now, so itās better.
Most of the time, when people say bad things about seizures it kind of makes me feel awkward sometimes. Like they donāt know my dad has seizures, so they wouldnāt understand what itās like to have a parent or somebody who has seizures.
When I was small, I didnāt really know what epilepsy was. When he used to have seizures, I knew it was bad but I didnāt really think much of it. But as I got older, I started realizing that he was in pain.
When my dad has a seizure, itās scary. You donāt know when itās going to happen and sometimes they can last for a long time.
I could tell when he was stressed and if he felt a seizure coming on because he would just go in his room and sleep. At home most of the time he would be tired from taking his pills and stuff so we would just have to wait until he felt normal before we could spend any time with him.
Now that he has the RNS System, things are a lot better. I haven’t seen him have a seizure since heās gotten it.
Itās impacted the whole family because we donāt worry as much about if my dadās going to have a seizure and thereās a lot of hope about the future.
I feel hopeful like itās going to work and you know, heās not going to have any other ones.
I spend more time with my dad than I did before, I mean, Iād see him all the time, but now itās better because heās also more alert during the time we spend together.
Published on: November 9, 2014
This represents the experience of individual(s) who have used the RNS System. Ā Individual results will vary.