CURE for Epilepsy

OK, I haven't been here for a while, but really needed to point out the following. If you've been over to Federal Review to read my rants and Emeriol's reasoned discourse, then you know I'm a strong conservative and consistent supporter of Republicans. But I took extra joy in Sarah Palin's potential focus on "special needs" children as Vice President - because, after all, children with epilepsy not only have special needs in education and other matters, they have needs that vary so widely, some serious education or awareness-raisin' is needed. In any case, among my other disappointments on November 4, I was sad that Mrs. Palin would not have the opportunity to bring this issue to the debate in Washington.

But guess what. A reason for hope that the Obama Administration may even have some reason for focus directly on epilepsy itself. My lovely wife pointed out this video to me because she noticed the banner behind Mr. Obama and he roasted his new Chief of Staff Rahm Emmanuel.

For several years now, I have had this logo and link at the bottom of my page on Federal Review.



Guess who founded and runs this organization? Susan Axelrod, the wife of Barack Obama's campaign manager, David Axelrod. There's some good news. And while my 8-year old has had only one seizure since June 2007, the EEG is still not settled and others, such as Federal Review's own Emeriol, continue to fight seizures. I'm pleased that someone concerned about epilepsy research will have the new President's ear. And that's some wealth redistribution I can get behind.

This graphic from the CURE site shows how the Epilepsy Lobby (if there is one) has been very ineffective. You know you have a PR problem when a much larger number of afflicted are seeing much less comparative research investment. Perhaps that's about to change.

Crossposted on FederalReview.

Judging With Epilepsy

I awoke this morning to the news that John Roberts, Chief Justice of The United States, suffered a seizure yesterday while vacationing at his summer home in Maine. My first thoughts were, "Dude... that really sucks to have a seizure on your vacation." Evidently they dragged the poor chap to the hospital and ran him through a battery of tests that did not indicate any underling medical conditions that might cause a seizure. It was diagnosed as a benign idiopathic seizure - this is doctor speak for: "We have no clue as to what caused it, but it doesn't appear to be life threatening." Further information came out that he had had a seizure about 14 years ago while playing golf.

This is where the fun starts... CNN brings in some commentator that starts blabbering about how Roberts might not be able to do his job now that he had a seizure, and what if he could not make it back to work after his vacation. Not content to just be stupid, the commentators continue their moronic rant, After all, he has had one before and the Chief Justice has a lot more responsibilities that the other justices... maybe he could work from home...

If you ever wondered why people with epilepsy are discriminated against, it is morons like this. They have no idea what they are talking about and turn epilepsy into a condition that would prevent you from doing your job.

Heros and Self Loathers

Paula Apodaca wrote an excellent post on her blog E. is for Epilepsy about her personal reflections about famous people affected by seizure disorders. Here is a snippet, but read the whole thing...

For my own part, I can't say I feel better about myself knowing there have been famous or historical persons with E., but I do find reading about them as interesting as their works.

Of the ancients, Julius Caesar and Socrates are presented most frequently. Napoleon Bonaparte is often pointed out, but unfortunately, the only lesson I took away from Napoleon's story was that his E. betrayed him in the end, at Waterloo.
I liked writers with E. much better. Fyodor Dostoevsky filled my adolescent hours with great drama; Edgar Allen Poe, entertained me with horror stories; Count Leo Tolstoy made me cry.