Get Informed

I am currently reading the book Facing Your Giants by Max Lucado.  I have been blown away chapter by chapter, it is wonderfully written and leaves you thinking about your life and changes you can make.....and I am only on page 43!  However last night kind of threw me.  I am sure it is not anything close to what the author was trying to get to stand out, however, being a mom of a child with Epilepsy, it stood out to me.  He was referencing the story in the Bible about David and Saul.  And how David was running from town to town trying to escape from Saul who was trying to kill him.  He came upon the Philistines who knew who he was and they were wanting to turn him into Saul.  So, what did he do?  He acted crazy, he acted crazy so that they would think he was crazy and just make him leave the town and his life would be spared.  However, that is not how it was said in the book.  This is from the book:
"He sticks out his tongue, rolls in the dirt, grunts and grins, spits, shakes, and foams.  David feigns something like Epilepsy.  The Philistines believed "an Epileptic was possessed by Dagon's devil and that he made husbands impotent, women barren, children die, and animals vomit."  Fearing that every drop of an Epileptics blood created one more devil, the Philistines drive Epileptics out of their towns and into the desert to die."
It goes on from there obviously, that is not the end of the chapter but I could not concentrate for the life of me on what else was said.  I was fuming!!  I understand that that way of thinking is not from today, but isn't it?  I was once a mom to a perfectly healthy kid and had no clue what Epilepsy was.  There is a huge stigma out there for people living with Epilepsy.  We may not be driving Epileptic people out of our towns and into a desert for them to die, but we sure as heck can make them feel little, feel dirty, like they don't belong.  There are a lot of people who think that if you drink after someone one who has this disease that you can get it too.  Or they think that they are mentally crazy or incompetent, that they cannot do normal everyday things.  These things are so far from the truth.  Here are some facts:
You cannot ever get Epilepsy from drinking after someone. 
People with Epilepsy are not crazy or mentally unstable.
People with Epilepsy can do normal activities like a "normal" person.
I can tell you this.  My daughter cannot swim because she has Epilepsy.  We were told by her neurologist that it would be best to keep her out of the water because if she were to have a seizure in the water, she would drown (obviously).  She can go in, but it would be best to have an adult next to her at all times.  But get this, the girl has hated water since she was born.  She was never the kid who enjoyed bath time or swimming.  She hated water on her head and is terrified to go into a pool.  How awesome is that?  Ok, so it is not awesome that she is terrified or banned from water but could you imagine having a child who loves the water and then at age 7 is told they cannot go in or it would be dangerous going in?  To take away something they loved?  I totally believe that was a God thing.  He knew that at age 7 Cass would have her first seizure and get diagnosed so I believe that He gave her that insecurity with water.  She used to not be able to run because getting over heated or breathing intensely would throw her into a seizure.  But with her meds, she can now run to her hearts content.  There may be things she cannot do, but it is not obvious.  If you were to meet her, you would never know.  I feel like Epilepsy still has a big stigma that comes with it and the best thing you can do is be informed.  Not only is it good knowledge for you, but you may come across someone one day who has it and would know all the ins and outs.  There are numerous resources, we are part of the Epilepsy Alliance of Orange County and Los Angeles.  Epilepsy.com has a lot of good information as well.  So, lets all educate ourselves, it cant hurt right?