Brain 2.0; The End of Claire’s Epileptic Era

Claire ... She Finds Hearts Everywhere!

If Claire has touched your life in any way you will understand how special she is. From giving a bright-eyed smile to her cashier, to supporting a friend in need, her positivity, love, and strength seem endless. Claire is an active young woman, a lover of all animals, and an adventurous soul of the wild west coast of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. She truly has an insatiable curiosity for all areas of life ... and yes, wherever she goes, she finds hearts. Painted on a wall. Chalked onto the sidewalk. In the shapes of stones and the colours of nature. She then photographs and shares them with her friends through social media. Sharing love is an integral part of her worldview, and these photos are how she passes this love back to the world. She strongly believes in the good of this universe, and she strives to perpetuate it.

Unfortunately, Claire’s independence has been increasingly assaulted as her condition worsens. As the years have passed, her epilepsy has become less responsive to medication, and as a result she has lost much of her freedom to continue her adventurous life. And yet, in the face of this daunting reality, she finds ways to continue to live life to its fullest, the only way she knows how.

UPDATE: "On Friday, December 21st, 2018, the first shot was fired from Claire's side of the battlement. After over two decades of random, terrifying, debilitating seizures, Claire and the team of epileptologists struck a blow in return. Her Doctors performed a Craniotomy and Resection, removing the lesion on her Parietal lobe, and the tissue removed from her brain during the procedure was sent to the lab for analysis. A few hours later she was wheeled into her room, and for the last two days she's been learning exactly how hard it is to recover from brain surgery."




A Two Decade Journey

As many of her friends already know, Claire lives with epilepsy. What she’s managed to hide from them is the depth of her daily struggle. She has recently had confirmed what she’s known all along; she has been living with epilepsy for 21 years. Her condition was left undiagnosed, and eventually completely misdiagnosed, the entire time. As a result of this, there are days where multiple seizures keep her from simple daily activities. Others days, one big seizure is enough to shatter her strength, and fully deplete her energy. The unpredictability of her seizures means there are some activities she simply cannot do unaccompanied because they become too dangerous; having a shower, chopping vegetables for a salad, or even just crossing a street. And yet, true to her character, she continues to be her own advocate, constantly pushing the medical system to find answers, while never letting her shining spirit dim. She wants to be a source of love to the people she cares for, not an emotional burden, so she seldom asks for help. But now she needs our love and care.




Claire’s Christmas Gift

Recently, Claire found an incredible team of caring professionals at Calgary, Alberta’s Foothills Hospital Seizure Monitoring Unit, who offered her the first true hope she’s seen during her long and exhausting medical journey. After waiting six months for a bed, she was admitted December 5th, and spent two weeks under their care and observation, persevering through incredibly stressful tests, in order to find the answers to her condition. Ever-positive, she endured her medical stay with grace and kindness.

As the nature of her condition was being made clearer, her indomitable spirit and dogged determination to self-advocate clearly paid off. The team was able to locate the likely origin of her seizures, and are confident that surgery will vastly improve her quality of life, if not completely cure her of the epilepsy that has plagued her for over two decades. She will once again be able to run errands, adventure in the rugged coastal forests of British Columbia, and even surf the waves of Tofino, enjoying her life as we all do, without the constant and nagging fear of seizing. Her surgery is scheduled for December 21st.




My Hope for Claire

Claire is the brightest light in my life, she's my best friend and partner, and I've watched helplessly as her quality of life erodes. When we first became friends, I was initially seeing the effects of Lyme, a disease she unknowingly acquired during one of her frequent hikes. Seizures were a staccato counterpoint to her Lyme’s constant droning degradation. In spite of multiple visits to emergency, her then family doctor discounted her ever worsening condition, allowing the untreated Lyme disease to speed the advance of her seizures from somewhat manageable, to completely out of control. The disease had a year and a half to do its work, damaging her already frayed nervous system. Claire was eventually able to force her GP into sending her to an infectious disease specialist, who then promptly diagnosed her correctly. In the short time I’ve known her, the increased seizures she suffers have made her work and her school impossible. She finally admitted this to herself when a cycling accident, caused by a seizure, nearly killed her as she rode home from work. She’s been living on employer disability ever since.

I know how independent minded she is ... it’s one of things I most love about her ... so I want to help return to her the liberty she’s always worked so hard to keep. She gives love to the universe, and and I want to make sure she can keep doing it. She needs our help.




How You can Help

The funds generated here will go towards helping Claire pay for the cost of her stay in Calgary, and the costs she’ll incur as she recovers from surgery. You can help by donating what you can, and then sharing this campaign on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter ... even email, for those who don’t use social media.




We are a galaxy, and her bright light shines brightest when she’s surrounded by her constellation of friends.




Donate to this campaign through:

1. E-transfer to [email redacted]
2. The Donate button on this page
3. Grocery cards can be left for Claire at the Fisgard St. Forum, located at 845 Fisgard St., Victoria, B.C.


Sharing this campaign:

Please take five minutes out of your day to share Claire's story to as many people as possible. A quick email or a post on Facebook will make all the difference!


The response to Claire's campaign has been overwhelming, to say the least! Claire and I want to thank you all for your support and well wishes. She has spent a huge portion of her life fighting this battle alone, so this massive display of generosity and love has given her a real boost, in all the ways that matter. Thank you!