When Cincinnati Children’s first told Erin Grasty’s patient story two years ago, she was a 16-year-old patient with epilepsy. She had been having seizures since she was 10.
Erin and her mom, Patty, talked about what it was like to ride the “e-coaster,” the epilepsy roller coaster that had taken their lives for a spin. They described what it was like to live with the condition, to explain it to teachers and classmates and to try to just get over it.
Erin didn’t want epilepsy to define her. She wanted people to know that it was just a small part of her life. She was finding help at Cincinnati Children’s to make it easier to manage. And she was emerging as a success story.
Today, she’s every bit of a success story, and her life is even bigger. Erin, who will be 19 next month, is a student at the College of Mount St. Joseph and is studying special education. She just celebrated three years of being seizure-free. And she continues to educate her peers about epilepsy, which affects more than 2 million people across the country and is characterized by recurrent, unprovoked seizures.
November is National Epilepsy Awareness Month. And as we help raise awareness about the condition, we’re looking back at Erin’s story and celebrating how far she’s come.
