Nancy Figueroa Writes

If your child has seizures, it is important that you're well prepared for all neurology appointments. But just exactly how do you prepare for these appointments? How best can you navigate the healthcare system? These are some of the questions Dr. Richard Fralick, a medical doctor for 47 years and the father of a son with intractable seizures, is going to address at the next meeting of Epilepsy Toronto's Nights of Sharing. "It is most important to maximize the time spent with your care team," says Richard, a physician at Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre. "By being well prepared you have the best chance of getting your questions answered." Richard will address the importance of being able to describe your child's seizures, including any triggers that may have preceded the event, such as lights, sleep deprivation, head injury; characteristics of the seizures, such as eye fluttering, tongue biting, incontinence, change in consciousness; sy...

March 26 is Purple Day for Epilepsy, a day to wear purple to show your support for the 1 in 100 people living with epilepsy. Yes, epilepsy is that common! Education, epilepsy awareness, and the elimination of the stigma surrounding epilepsy is greatly needed. For far too long epilepsy has been misunderstood and underrecognized, two ills that endanger the lives and well-being of those living with this neurological condition. Let's change that: Wear purple on Tuesday, March 26 to show your support! Getting our purple on! Even the Ontario government is getting into the act. I recently received an invitation from the Premier to attend the PC Caucus Purple Day reception in support of global epilepsy awareness. This exclusive reception, for a select few from across the Province, is being held Tuesday at Queen's Park in the Government Caucus Boardroom. I was delighted to be invited and would love to network with elected officials to expand their awareness of the unique chall...

Ola! I’ve just returned from an amazing writing retreat in magical Sintra, Portugal, led by Canadian editor extraordinaire, Allyson Latta. The stunningly colourful Pena Palace, one of many palaces and castles in Sintra. On the last day of the retreat Robert Wilson, award-winning, best-selling British author and his wife, Lucy, speak with us. Wilson, with intense eyes that gaze into yours when he speaks, towers above Allyson as she introduces him. Dressed in navy jeans and a navy shirt, he looks every bit the rugby player he used to be. He charmingly begins his talk by presenting each one of us with a plump, gorgeous orange from a tree he planted at his home in Portugal. He advises us to pierce the skin of the orange and soak in its tantalizing aroma. It smells almost too good to eat. We’ve been reading his psychological crime thriller, The Blind Man of Seville, as it’s a great study of the ins and outs of character development. “The search for exceptional char...

I'm so glad today is the last day of February. For a short month it was long and brutal! I can't wait for the snow, the cold and the grey to vanish. Usually I go for a long walk three to five times a week, but not this month. It has either been too cold or too icy. On the upside, I've had more time for reading.  This year I've recorded in my Book Lover's Diary the title and author of each book I've read and I've rated each book with one to four stars. My Mom gave me the diary in 2000 but this is the first year I'm dutifully recording every book I read. So far I've read eight books, or almost one a week. Six of the eight are non-fiction: Becoming , by Michelle Obama; A Smell of Burning, A Memoir of Epilepsy by Colin Grant; Educated , by Tara Westover;  Walk It Off, A Memoir by Ruth Marshall;   Intrepid Soul, A Memoir of Returning Home ,   by Leanda Michelle and Women Who Walk With Wolves , by Clarissa Pinkola Estes. The two fiction books wer...

Brilliant idea: Eight rules for dealing with seizures, printed  on a milk cartons! Italy is one of my favourite countries, but now I love it even more. The Italian League Against Epilepsy and the Italian Association Against Epilepsy recently launched an initiative to increase public understanding of epilepsy. If you can imagine, information about seizure first aid is now printed on milk cartons! This brilliant initiative is being offered in collaboration with Lattebusche Dairy, a dairy co-op in the north-eastern region of Italy. As well, information about epilepsy has  been printed on more than 100,000 flyers. In Italy 500,000 people have epilepsy and about 30,000 people are diagnosed with it each year. In Canada about 300,000 Canadians have epilepsy and about 15,500 are newly diagnosed every year. Epilepsy is common, and yet in some countries there is a stigma attached to it. It is seen as something that should be hidden.  "This awareness campaign i...

The inaugural meeting of Nights of Sharing was held last night at Epilepsy Toronto.The frigid temperatures and the ill health of some children meant it was a small--but mighty--group with lots of time to ask questions and share stories. Richard and I were happy to spearhead the group and to share our 30-year journey of raising a child with drug resistant epilepsy. From the feedback we received parents with recently diagnosed children are eager to learn from the wisdom of parents who've gone before them. I guess that makes us the old parents and they the young parents ! Still, we who've been through it want to offer guidance and share what we've learned on what is a difficult--sometimes horrible--journey. I've even been asked if we could videotape the sessions so that parents from outside Toronto can participate. Sometimes I forget how lucky we are to live in a large city with lots of resources. One young Mom came from Niagara. I'm so glad the meeting was helpfu...

Do you have a child with drug-resistant epilepsy? Do not feel alone!  For the first time ever, Epilepsy Toronto is offering  Nights of Sharing , a four-part series aimed at bringing parents of children with uncontrolled seizures together to share, connect, empower and learn. The series is lead by parents, for parents. Richard and I spearheaded the series along with Epilepsy Toronto social worker Katie Armstrong. We were at the Epilepsy Toronto Annual Meeting in May when a parent asked about support groups for parents of children with drug-resistant epilepsy. There wasn't one. So, I approached ET about starting a group. I'll never forget how much support, knowledge and encouragement I got from the Bloorview Group many years ago when my son was young and seizing daily. Now that James is seizure-free it’s time to give-back by helping parents who are where we once were. And so, after meetings and great direction from  Katie, Nights of Sharing was realized. Some...