All I remember is coming to a green traffic light and then, all of a sudden, the next thing I know, I don’t come to conscious awareness until I’m standing on the sidewalk of a busier small-town street watching my bashed-in Ford Pinto getting hooked-up to a tow truck.

I was surrounded by the police and ambulance being told I’d just caused this car collision. Then, later at the courthouse, paying the traffic ticket and trying to explain what had happened, being told I’d better schedule an appointment with a doctor to determine what may have caused everything. I was maybe 20 years old when I’m brought to the awareness of experiencing a seizure through my first car accident, unfortunately, later others were to come. This being over 30 years ago now.

Being epileptic and not even knowing what the disorder is: a neurological disorder characterized by seizures, or the type of symptoms that might be caused, mine being diagnosed as complex-partial not the more commonly know gran-mal with seizures that are more noticeable through the physical convulsions. The disorder for me as its been diagnosed was initiated as a delayed reaction from surviving spinal-meningitis as a baby of approximately six months old.

At the age of 40, and an active volunteer with Kaiser Permanente as well as them being our personal health care provider. it was there and then and where and when they were able to successfully diagnose and provide me with a procedure that was appropriate for me of my brain surgery. After an EEG had finally discovered all of the scar tissue on the left side in the nervous system due to the meningitis of infancy. When this surgery (a left temporal craniotomy; selective removal of the amygdala and hippocampus) was diagnosed, my instincts caused me to feel; “This must be right and what to do (?); it’s what the doctor diagnosed(!)”

The key point the doctors would consistency warn me of because of the area of the brain that was impacted was that I may have to learn how to talk again. The first time I’d heard the doctor say it, the thoughts that came to my mind were about what I was pursuing as far as career, it made me think to myself “I have something to talk about.”
Afterward this is also what motivated me into feeling good about sharing with others what has been able to be provided for me. And encourage those that feel good about giving back in the same way with contributing as a volunteer.

Thanks to the brain surgery its been over 10 years later and I’ve been able to be more active through volunteering and public involvement. But also to attempt to further evolve with a business that I’ve felt has been giving me that initial motivation of having something to talk about with their message and philosophy of ‘feel the fear and do it anyway’ when pursuing your desires; email.