Aidan’s Embrace story — Sharing her story to help others with epilepsy

One common feeling among people living with Epilepsy is anxiety and it is also a well-known trigger for seizures, which is why it is important to have a strong support system of family or friends who can help reduce the feeling.

Here at Empatica, we recognize that there is a need to spread epilepsy awareness, and we have made it our goal to let people know more about this condition, so that they can offer as much support as possible to people living with epilepsy.

In this edition of Embrace Stories, we bring to you the story of Aidan, who recounts how Embrace, as well as the support from her friends have helped her cope with anxiety about her condition.

Aidan is a runner for her school’s Cross Country team. She had her first seizure while onboard an airplane coming back from a conference. Since then, she has had to deal with anxiety about sharing the same room with her teammates because she doesn’t know when the next seizure will happen.

Having the Embrace has given her peace of mind, and some level of freedom, knowing that if she has a seizure, her caregivers will be alerted and they’ll know what to do. It also helps that she has a good support system of friends, and they, along with her Embrace watch have helped ease her anxiety.

Her Story

I had my first seizure when I fell asleep on a flight coming back from a conference. It was scary because I didn’t know what was happening and we were 30,000 feet in the air. I was so embarrassed. I never thought that it would happen to me, let alone on a plane.

Luckily enough, there was a doctor on the plane to monitor me until I regained consciousness. He helped make sure I was safe to continue my flight home. I’m on my university’s Varsity Cross-Country team, we travel a lot, and because of this incident I get extremely anxious around sharing rooms with my teammates, traveling alone, or even being home alone.

I felt as though a part of my autonomy as a university student had been taken away. I became extremely reliant on my friends and was always scared to be alone because I felt I wasn’t safe. I could have a seizure at anytime and no one would know.

Thankfully, I have wonderful friends that have been helping me cope with my diagnosis. They look out for me and make sure that I am safe. They’ve also driven me to doctors appointments, helped me pick up medication, and even helped me pay for my Embrace watch.

I’m glad to have such great friends who are so understanding and I feel more at ease knowing that they are there to help me when I need them.

I use Embrace to track my seizures and now I have my freedom back

“Embrace has given me my freedom back.”

Over time, my seizures became quite frequent. I started having seizures on a weekly and monthly basis. My friends helped me, and I purchased Embrace so I’d be able to track my seizures with my neurologist to help better identify triggers as well as how many seizures I was having on a weekly and monthly basis. So far it has been great.

Embrace has given me my freedom back, the Mate app is great. I can open it and see reports on how many seizures I’ve had, and at what time they occurred. I feel much more comfortable now that I have been able to identify some of my triggers as well as when most of my seizures occur.

Embrace is perfect if you just want to know more about your seizures, but it’s also great if you set up the Alert function to notify someone if it detects a seizure.

“Thanks to Embrace I’m not as concerned about having a seizure and getting injured while at the gym or on the slopes.”

I love to be active and I participate in a number of sports. I run on my University’s Varsity Cross-Country team, snowboard, ski, and I’ve just started lifting weights. Thanks to Embrace I’m not as concerned about having a seizure and getting injured while at the gym or on the slopes.

A lot of my free time is taken up with school, but I love learning so I spend a lot of time studying. I also love to read. I’m a cat lover- I have four cats and a bunny so when I’m not running or studying, I’m probably at home playing with them.

“I hope to help others who have epilepsy by sharing my story.”

I hope to become a physiotherapist or an athletic therapist after I graduate. I’m not sure which path I’d like to take yet, but I have plenty of time to decide. I also hope that I am able to help others who have Epilepsy by sharing my story and showing them that they too can regain their sense of independence.

More Embrace Stories will be published soon! To share yours, feel free to write to us at support@empatica.com or post your story on Facebook or Instagram by tagging our page (respectively @Empatica on FB, @empatica_wearables on IG) or the hashtag #EmbraceWatch.

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