Epilepsy Awareness Month!!!

We celebrate Thanksgiving in November. We celebrate in November that there are people who care for others who have a seizure disorder this month~ Epilepsy Awareness Month. An important thing to remember if you are one of the millions of people affected by epilepsy. Epilepsy is also called seizure disorder. A seizure occurs when clusters of nerve cells in the brain signal abnormally, briefly altering a persons level of consciousness and or movements. Seizure disorder is caused by many things.

*Lisa and Jet 2007

Some folks will go their entire lives, never encountering a person with a seizure disorder, or seeing a person actually having a seizure. As a nurse I learned it was terrible to watch a seizure. As a patient, I learned its worse to have one.

The American Epilepsy Society (AES) and UCB ~ Union Chimique Belge, a multinational biopharmaceutical company headquartered in Brussels, Belgium, with headquarters also in Smyrna, Georgia, focused on research and development specifically centered on treatments for central nervous system disorders like epilepsy, inflammatory, allergy and oncology disorders are celebrating ten years of partnership together with Canine Assistants.

Since 2005 Canine Assistants, AES and UCB have been bringing information to Epileptologists about seizure response dogs. Canine Assistants is now considered one of the leading experts on seizure response dog training and research. A dog may be trained to respond to a seizure, no dog can be trained to predict one. That behavior is dependant on the strong social bond between the dog and recipient, the ability of the dog to que into its person's scent, physical and mental changes that may be so subtle that other's are unable to notice. It's a miracle.

I am honored to have been one of the recipients of this research and of such miracles...

In January 2007 Canine Assistants partnered me with Jet, my first seizure response/mobility dog. Within three months, Jet was able to predict a seizure twenty minutes before one occurred, allowing me to take medication and not seize. Jet opened my world back up when doors seemed closing all around me.

The torch passed on to my successor dog, Frax in November 2011, which considering this is Epilepsy Awareness Month, is quite proper. Frax has been predicting my seizures about ten minutes before one occurs. I have been twice blessed!

Thanks to this partnership of AES, UCB and Canine Assistants my life has changed for the better. In so many ways. “Thank you” seems a small thing to offer these folks. But its all I have...a sincere thank you from me, my family and friends. Thank You.

You can find Canine Assistants at http://www.canineassistants.org/.

You can find more information at the American Epilepsy Society at https://www.aesnet.org/ The American Epilepsy Society convention is in Philadelphia, PA December 4-8 at the Pennsylvania Convention center.

*Team Frax and Lisa

You can find more information about UCB at http://www.ucb-usa.com/Home.