Getting epilepsy as a freshman – and responding as a fraternity

I joined the fraternity, Phi Gamma Delta (commonly referred to as Fiji), in the spring of 2013, during my freshman year at UConn. Around the same time I started the pledging process I had my first seizure.

After the second one, a week later, I was diagnosed with epilepsy, and had several more seizures during that spring semester.

After the first one, I knew something happened but was unsure what it was. I brushed it off because I did not want to make a big deal out of something that I wasn’t even sure happened.

I was laying on my bed on a Sunday night when I felt something begin to overtake my body. My jaw began to shake and my head turned to the left. My body started to convulse. This was the last thing I remembered before I blacked out.

I awoke about ten minutes later, unsure of what happened. My whole body was sore and tired, but I thought this was just from a long weekend of partying. I thought I had just imagined this or dreamed of it when I was falling asleep.

Me with some brothers

Exactly one week later, I was outside my dorm with friends late at night when I began to feel that same feeling again (I later learned that the feeling before a seizure is commonly referred to as an “aura”). This was in February of 2013 and there was a lot of snow on the ground, so I began to move towards the nearest snow bank. I collapsed into the snow as my jaw trembled, head turned, and body convulsed.

I woke up in an ambulance, as they were strapping me down so I could not move. In a panic, I said, “What happened? Where am I? Where are you taking me? Help!” The EMT responded, “You just had a seizure. We are taking you to the nearest hospital.” I said, “ No this isn’t real. I didn’t have seizure. LET ME GO!”

I struggled momentarily in the straps, quickly realizing that this was all true. My body was weak. Every muscle was fatigued from the seizure that I slowly realized was actually real.

My parents drove up from home, meeting me at the Windham Hospital. The doctors monitored me for a while and I was given medication to take. I was put on a medication called Keppra, which is commonly used to suppress seizures.

I went home with my parents and was able to visit a neurologist two days later. He suggested I continue to take Keppra twice a day. I did not have another seizure for over a month.

In March, I had my third seizure, while I was in my dorm room. I felt the aura coming on and jumped on my bed. After this one I began to feel terrified. I felt as though I should be cured of them because I was on medication. I felt helpless.

The doctor suggested I raise my dosage of medication. So I took more and continued on with school. However, now I felt as though I was haunted by something that could strike at any time. I had two more seizures that semester.

That summer I found the medication that worked for me and was able to control my seizures. Looking back, I feel incredibly fortunate that this was where it ended. I did have some lingering effects. Occasionally feeling what I thought was an aura, giving me anxiety. Experiencing a seizure was unforgettable and still haunts me to this day. I continue to use this as motivation moving forward.

Which brings me to last weekend, and a bunch of frat brothers running 24 miles with a hockey puck.

About a year and a half later, I had the opportunity to become the co-chairman of the fraternity’s philanthropy committee. I knew at this time, this would be an opportunity for me to help other people struggling in some way, just like I had struggled with overcoming epilepsy. Unable to gain enough traction for an event that year, I began working on an event for my senior year.

The idea for a relay run between two schools the day of a sport event was starting to be developed after learning of other chapters doing similar events around the country. We chose to do a puck run with the UMass Phi Gamma Delta chapter.

Leading up to the event, we set up a Crowdrise page to take donations, secured a bus for the chapter, as well as a police escort. We began reaching out to family and friends to for their donations and support.

I coordinated with the UMass Fiji chapter and decided we would meet in Monson, Massachusetts at the local police station. UConn Fiji would leave in the morning carrying a hockey puck, with at least one person running at all times. When we met the UMass Fijis in Monson, we would hand off the puck to them and they would continue running the puck to the Mullins Center in Amherst, MA where UConn and UMass were set to face off in a hockey game that night.

This took place the morning of November 7th. We got up that morning and met outside the UConn visitor’s center, where a state trooper and a school bus were awaiting us.

We began the run just after 8am and while one of our brothers, Jefferson, started running, we drove ahead in the school bus, awaiting him to hand off the puck to the next runner. We would continue to leap frog the runner in the school bus.

Every time we switched runners we would drive ahead and park, waiting for the runner to catch us. Every time we drove by the runner, the guys in the bus cheered on the runner and everyone got excited to keep moving along.

This continued until we reached the town of Monson. When we were about a mile away from the police station, about 20 of us got out of the bus to finish the run together. We had planned to run this distance of about 24 miles in a little under 5 hours, after including time to switch runners.

We completed it in approximately 3 and a half hours.

We waited for the UMass Fijis to arrive at the police station from around 11:30 a.m. until noon where we passed off the puck to them and they completed their half of the run up to Amherst, MA for the hockey game.

This inaugural event turned out to be very successful. Almost four thousand dollars has been raised so far, with more donations still coming in. We were able to complete the run more quickly than anticipated, with everything going smoothly.

All of this was done for a great cause. This money will go to the Epilepsy Foundation, which does research to help cure and medicate those with epilepsy. Phi Gamma Delta thanks those who have supported us in any way and hopes to receive continued support, so this can be an even more successful event in the future.

To continue supporting this cause please visit this website.

The more money and awareness raised, the less people have to struggle with the disorder that terrorized me during my freshman year.