Local teams raise epilepsy awareness

The Shead High School boys' and girls' soccer teams in Eastport wore purple uniforms in home matches against Hodgdon High School on September 28 in support of epilepsy and community members affected by the neurological condition. One of the people diagnosed with epilepsy is Shead player Cierra Seeley's young niece, Callie.
When Callie Seeley was born in Saint John on December 4, 2014, to Rachael Arron Atkinson of St. Stephen and Shane Seeley of Edmunds, her parents thought they were taking home a beautiful and healthy daughter. Shane says his mother Elizabeth was the first one to notice something was wrong, when the infant's leg began involuntarily contracting. "Then Callie began having seizures, and we brought her to the Saint John hospital, where she was diagnosed with epilepsy. The odds of a baby having epilepsy are very, very slim."
Now 10 months old, Callie takes two different types of liquid medicines three times a day, but her father describes her as "drug resistant. She's been treated with combinations of 15 to 20 medicines, and they don't really work that well. [However] she's down to one to five seizures a month versus up to 15 a day. We'll be taking her to a specialist in Halifax soon."
He says, "We can tell when a seizure is coming, so we hold her and talk to her. She started having seizures so young, she's a little bit behind other babies her age, but now she's catching up." He adds, "Rachael's a great mother, and Callie is always smiling and happy."
A team called Callie's Crusaders raised $2,000 in the recent Walk for Epilepsy held in Bangor, and Seeley proudly points out, "They were the top team in fundraising."
Two members of Callie's Crusaders were Erin Mahar of Perry and her son Jakob Klentzman, who has epilepsy. "We didn't really know Callie's parents, but when Jakob heard about her diagnosis he said, 'She's just a baby' and felt very strongly about helping to take care of her," recalls Mahar.
Now a sophomore at Shead High School, Jakob was diagnosed with epilepsy five years ago when he was 10. "We had no indication that he was [epileptic] until one day when he was playing outside at school, he had a seizure and fell down. He fought it at first, but we learned which medicines work."
Doctors have been trying to wean him off any medications, hoping he'll outgrow his seizures, which were occurring about five times a year.
"One time he had a seizure when he was standing at the top of a flight of stairs and fell down them, but fortunately he hasn't broken anything and has just gotten some bruises," says Jakob's mother. "Right now he's been six months seizure-free and needs to be at least three months seizure-free if he wants to learn to drive -- which is important to him."
Mahar stresses, "His classmates are very supportive. They've seen what epilepsy can do, and there's no stigma. That's why I love living where we do. We appreciate all of that support."
To learn more about epilepsy or make a contribution to help those affected by this condition, visit the Epilepsy Foundation at <www.epilepsy.com>.