Erica's epilepsy medical fund
Donation protected
I was 18 years old and I had graduated a semester early from high school. I took my drivers test December 28th, 2006 and I had passed. My brother knew how happy I was, so he let me drive his car to go out and celebrate. On February 18, 2007 I had been hired to work among others, at one of the many retail positions available. On March 17, 2007 I went with my boyfriend (who is now my husband) to a car dealership hoping to find a newer better car for me to drive. We didn't find anything good so we prepared to head out.
I had drove us there and planned on driving us back. This was told to me as I apparently had blacked out; I had headed over to the car to unlock the door but I tried to unlock it from the door that was broken. My boyfriend walked over to me and asked if I was okay, as he had thought this was weird for me to do. He looked at my face and noticed my eyes watering, my mouthing drooling, and then I went limp. I came to in about 30 seconds, asking him why he was over here. He told me about the situation and I didn't believe him; however, he insisted on following me home after we had got back to his house. When I arrived back at my parents house, he told them what had happened. They didn't believe him at the time because he was one of the type of guys parents didn't see their little girl choosing for a companion. Later that evening, me, my parents, and my five siblings went out to eat at a pizza parlor.
Everything was fine at the restaurant for a little while. I was sitting across from my oldest brother and he noticed I had stopped to take a drink and was holding the glass in midair, then I began to learn towards my right side, and I passed out. My family was convinced something was definently wrong at that point. The restaurant owner was calling an ambulance as I came to. There was so much comotion, I had no clue what was going on until my mom told me.
After arriving at the hospital, we discussed everything that had been going on that day. My ER doctor told me that I need to make an appointment with a neurologist, that it sounded as though I had had a couple of seizures. I thought nah, noway I had a seizure. I hadn't even had to have a surgery before.
My boyfriend stayed with me, taking me to work, making sure I took my medicine even though I didn't think anything was wrong with me. I went to visit a neurologist, after waiting about 4 months to get in. I had been canceled on twice. I was told I was epileptic, because I have been continuing having episodes a couple times a month to 8 episodes in one day. Throughout 8 years, I have had several ekg's paired with eegs. I had to have a 3 hour eeg, a 24 hour eeg, a 3 day eeg in the hospital, a 5 day video eeg in the hospital, and a 5 day video eeg off of my medicine with stress test. The last test took place about year 6 and my doctors finally got what they needed. I had a grandmal seizure, which was actually very good even though they are no fun. The results of the test told my doctors exactly where my seizures were coming from in my brain. It turned out I have complex partial seizures, that are idiopathic (meaning there is no known reason for why I have them).
The results of my final test proved I was eligible for a vagal nerve stimulator. I have had one implanted and I am on my second battery. I almost went one year seizure free in 2014, as of March 1, 2015 I am officially seizure free for a whole year. In Indiana you are suppose to wait until you are seizure free a whole year before you can drive again legally. I am currently taking 3000mg of keppra, 600mg of vimpat, 1mg of klonopin, 2mg of folic acid, 100mg of sertraline.
My boyfriend proposed to me in November 2007 and our five year wedding anniversary was February 18, 2015. We got married on the day I started working at my first job out of highschool because I had met him there. This whole time, through all of these test I had been going to school half-time and I finished my associates degree. I am now working on my bachelors in social work and I plan on getting my master's from IUPUI.
I am trying to raise money to satisfy all of the debt collectors that have been calling for bills dating back to 2010. I can only pay them so fast and help my husband keep a roof over our heads. It would be great to take care of this now that I have been seizure free for 7 months, that way I can focus on paying off my student loans.
I have recently learned that the government in indiana is cutting funding for epilepsy care, which will cause my social worker that has worked with me in my neurologist office for that last 8 years to lose her job. Every bit of money I make over my goal will be donated to their office to help here keep her job. She has been so kind to me over the years, I want her to be there for others as well.
I had drove us there and planned on driving us back. This was told to me as I apparently had blacked out; I had headed over to the car to unlock the door but I tried to unlock it from the door that was broken. My boyfriend walked over to me and asked if I was okay, as he had thought this was weird for me to do. He looked at my face and noticed my eyes watering, my mouthing drooling, and then I went limp. I came to in about 30 seconds, asking him why he was over here. He told me about the situation and I didn't believe him; however, he insisted on following me home after we had got back to his house. When I arrived back at my parents house, he told them what had happened. They didn't believe him at the time because he was one of the type of guys parents didn't see their little girl choosing for a companion. Later that evening, me, my parents, and my five siblings went out to eat at a pizza parlor.
Everything was fine at the restaurant for a little while. I was sitting across from my oldest brother and he noticed I had stopped to take a drink and was holding the glass in midair, then I began to learn towards my right side, and I passed out. My family was convinced something was definently wrong at that point. The restaurant owner was calling an ambulance as I came to. There was so much comotion, I had no clue what was going on until my mom told me.
After arriving at the hospital, we discussed everything that had been going on that day. My ER doctor told me that I need to make an appointment with a neurologist, that it sounded as though I had had a couple of seizures. I thought nah, noway I had a seizure. I hadn't even had to have a surgery before.
My boyfriend stayed with me, taking me to work, making sure I took my medicine even though I didn't think anything was wrong with me. I went to visit a neurologist, after waiting about 4 months to get in. I had been canceled on twice. I was told I was epileptic, because I have been continuing having episodes a couple times a month to 8 episodes in one day. Throughout 8 years, I have had several ekg's paired with eegs. I had to have a 3 hour eeg, a 24 hour eeg, a 3 day eeg in the hospital, a 5 day video eeg in the hospital, and a 5 day video eeg off of my medicine with stress test. The last test took place about year 6 and my doctors finally got what they needed. I had a grandmal seizure, which was actually very good even though they are no fun. The results of the test told my doctors exactly where my seizures were coming from in my brain. It turned out I have complex partial seizures, that are idiopathic (meaning there is no known reason for why I have them).
The results of my final test proved I was eligible for a vagal nerve stimulator. I have had one implanted and I am on my second battery. I almost went one year seizure free in 2014, as of March 1, 2015 I am officially seizure free for a whole year. In Indiana you are suppose to wait until you are seizure free a whole year before you can drive again legally. I am currently taking 3000mg of keppra, 600mg of vimpat, 1mg of klonopin, 2mg of folic acid, 100mg of sertraline.
My boyfriend proposed to me in November 2007 and our five year wedding anniversary was February 18, 2015. We got married on the day I started working at my first job out of highschool because I had met him there. This whole time, through all of these test I had been going to school half-time and I finished my associates degree. I am now working on my bachelors in social work and I plan on getting my master's from IUPUI.
I am trying to raise money to satisfy all of the debt collectors that have been calling for bills dating back to 2010. I can only pay them so fast and help my husband keep a roof over our heads. It would be great to take care of this now that I have been seizure free for 7 months, that way I can focus on paying off my student loans.
I have recently learned that the government in indiana is cutting funding for epilepsy care, which will cause my social worker that has worked with me in my neurologist office for that last 8 years to lose her job. Every bit of money I make over my goal will be donated to their office to help here keep her job. She has been so kind to me over the years, I want her to be there for others as well.
Organizer
Erica Barger
Organizer
Indianapolis, IN
