Seeing It For The First Time

Now. Let me tell you about a time I was at a camp. I was about 13, so I hadn't had my first seizure yet. All of us were singing songs together, when I saw a bunch of people turning around. They were clearly looking at something, so my Mom and I looked as well (She was at the camp with me). I saw a girl lying in someones lap, foam coming out of her mouth, seizing. This was the first encounter I had had with seizures. I had heard of them before, but the only thing I remembered was about a boy who had been watching TV for three hours straight, and had a seizure.

After this incident, I constantly bugged my Mom about that whole thing. I was so scared that I would have a seizure just because I saw someone else have one. "Sara, you are not going to have a seizure just because you saw someone else have one," Was her usual response. Though I knew she was probably right, I was still freaked out.

A few months later in November, I had my first seizure.

My Mom felt bad for a while, knowing she had told me seizures were not contagious, and yet I still had one. It was completely coincidental. Everyone knows witnessing a seizure does not make you have one. Seizures are not like colds. Being around them doesn't make us have one.


I want to tell you about a time right after that camp. I was at home, watching a movie in my Dad's office downstairs. I fell asleep and woke up on the ground. I felt like I was in a daze and wandered upstairs. My sister and her friend were playing a card game and they realized something was wrong with me. My parents were not home, so my sister and her friend tried to distract me by getting me to play the card game with them. When I tried to play, I couldn't remember how. "What do you mean you don't know how?" My sister asked. "You play this game all the time."

Since my parents weren't home, my sister called my other sister, Annie, and told her that I was acting weird. Annie came over to the house, and took me to the doctor. "She got a concussion. She must have slipped from the chair when she fell asleep." The doctor said. That is what we thought happened.

That was the version of the story we thought was true. That doesn't make much sense, so let me just explain.

That day, I decided to watch a movie down in my Dad's office. I woke up to find myself on the ground. I was extremely confused and I had the strangest feeling. I felt as if I was watching another person's life, as if I wasn't myself. I felt like I was dreaming. It was terrifying. I remember making my way out of the office, through the rumpus room; I was looking around, so confused. "Who's body am I in? What is happening? Am I even alive?" Those questions were going through my mind. I walked up the stairs to find my sister and her friend at the top, playing a card game. They must have asked me questions, but I don't remember them. I remember them telling me that my parents weren't home, and they wanted me to play the card game with them to distract me. I looked at the cards as they laid them out. "I don't know how to play it." I said. "What do you mean you don't know how to play it? You play it all the time." My sister said, as she looked at her friend anxiously.

My sister, Annie, took me to the doctor and he told me that it was just a concussion, and that I must have slipped out of the chair when I fell asleep.

A while later, my parents and I were thinking about it, and we realized that that was possibly a seizure. Some of the symptoms were the same.