Welcome to the Perseverance Project!! This blog is born from a few intersecting goals that are bubbling to the surface given some wandering creativity and too much time after a semester of no time at all. This journal is foremost about the process of recording the stories from my experiences with epilepsy, which I had from birth until last May, when I had a right anterior temporal lobectomy. (More on what that means in time, but the spark notes version is that I had about half of my right temporal lobe chunked out.) I will be reflecting on a journey that included more than ten different anti-epileptic medications, a low-carb medical diet, acupuncture, neurofeedback, alternative dietary therapy and more than a little psychological trauma. It would be both limiting and kind of pretentious to write memoirs at age 19, but I want to have these stories for when I'm a middle aged woman who forgets what it was like to be overcome by hellish hallucinations 6-7 times a month, so this seems like an ideal space. I hope that the process of writing will allow me to move through these memories to open new space and new energy as I move into my junior year of college and beyond.

I am also passionate about epilepsy advocacy and hope that this personal story will provide a lens into what it is like to live with epilepsy and, therefore, the immense need for future funding, research, and attention. I also hope that this project illuminates the stigma attached to epilepsy and challenges stereotypes by exploring all that is not dominated by epilepsy in my life as well as all that has been. As the culmination of a semester-long independent study, I will also be using this blog as a venue to spread information about international public health and human rights issues that people with epilepsy continually face.

Some logistical notes: my story will unfold chronologically in purple (because for those of you who don't know, purple is both the awesome-est color and the color for epilepsy awareness). Thoughts that I have based on current experiences will be recorded in blue, and your daily human rights fact will be in green. Thanks for reading! Enjoy the ride!