Seize Your Adventure

In this bonus episode, I catch-up with Becky Sampson. Four months after our initial conversation, coronavirus has changed plans for many. Becky tells me how it affected her round-the-world trip. In today's episode we talk about: Walking the Coast to Coast Track in Australia - in 9 days! Taking epilepsy medication across international borders The limits on anti-seizure medication for long jour...

Welcome to Season Two of Seize Your Adventure! This season, I will be speaking to even more people about a wider range of sports, and the conversations coming up in Season Two feel even more relevant in the current climate.   Today’s chat is with a lady called Becky Sampson. Becky is from the UK, but she hasn’t been based there for over three years now. She got in touch with me over a year ago whe...

So this is actually a sneaky extra episode of Season Two because I wanted to add a little prologue before we get into the season. Most of the interviews in the first part of this season were recorded in a very different world to one in which they are being released. The UK and a lot of the world are on lockdown because of the coronavirus pandemic. And like many in the outdoor community, in some wa...

Hello everyone, I am Fran Turauskis and I’m happy to introduce you to Season 2 of Seize Your Adventure. This season continues to explore the concept of adventure on a spectrum. Over the past few months, I’ve been hunting down even more people living with epilepsy who enjoy the adventure lifestyle. This season will have more ‘chats’ with guests. We talked about how the smaller adventures can help m...

In 2010, thirteen individuals got together in a hut in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado. The group shared a passion for the outdoors, an unyielding enthusiasm for life… and they also shared a link to different neurological challenges. These hardships could easily have led to a more subdued mindset. The thirteen people could have opted for a quieter, indoor life. But instead, they were inspired by o...

This is not quite Seize Your Adventure, but rather a short trailer episode to send you off to another podcast. Over the past few months I’ve been working on an episode for another independent podcast called Out There. It looks at the big questions in life through our relationship with the outdoors, using storytelling. So it is with huge pride that I can say my episode was released last week. It’s...

I get a lot of people contacting me. People who have adventurous souls and lived and breathed their sports before they started having seizures and were diagnosed with epilepsy. And the question I get asked most by people in this situation is “can I do this sport with epilepsy?”. And no matter what the sport is, my answer always has to be the same: “I cannot say”. I talk about a very valuable resou...

Three months in and seven challenges down, I am right on track with my #30at30forEpilepsy. In this bonus episode, you get to hear the seven lessons I have learned so far from ice climbing, archery, axe throwing, trail running, mountain biking, hiking at altitude and wild swimming. This is how I have safe adventures with epilepsy :) MENTIONS: Archery Fit Vertical Chill Sally Orange SayYesMore and t...

Amanda Plomp is a runner with epilepsy based in Victoria in Canada. As we heard in the last episode, discovering running in her twenties helped Amanda to feel strong and connected to her body, a feeling she had missed since her seizures started when she was a teenager. Running helps with her epilepsy. And epilepsy helps with her running.  In my conversation with Amanda, I was able to delve into th...

DISCLAIMER: Please remember all stories presented reflect the personal experiences of contributors . We take no responsibility for individual decisions made with regards to adventure sports or medical conditions.  For most people, the teenage years are a crucial period in finding out who we are. We try out lots of new things, we meet new people, we’re growing into new bodies and we’re starting to...

Today’s story is a small epic of a tale. It starts on the other side of the world, it includes some dramatic moments, some aspirations achieved. I also had to download a beep sound to censor some swear words in this episode - and you’ll soon understand why. This is the story of my first #30at30forEpilepsy challenge. This is my ice climbing adventure.  Why Ice Climbing? Well one reason is that I am...

We’ve heard from people with epilepsy how they seize adventure. Now it’s time to put some adventurers on the spot. I talk to three people who work within the adventure field to find out what they know about epilepsy, what they don’t, and how we can get more people with epilepsy in adventure. We mention: -These three adventure professionals’ first aid and epilepsy experience -How they handle risk a...

Jake Quigley is the executive director of the non profit Outdoor Mindset. The organisation’s mission is to unite and inspire people affected by neurological challenges through a common passion of the outdoors. It is a free membership-based community. When he is not working, Jake can be found adventuring outdoors with his wife, Jeanie, by foot, bike, or ski. If you haven’t listen to Jake’s story, b...

For Jake Quigley, adventure is more than just a past time, or even a passion. Adventure is a lifestyle, and one he built up around his epilepsy. Jake was diagnosed with epilepsy when he was eleven years old. Rather than being scared by the condition, those around him encouraged and supported Jake to try adventurous things.  But having carved out his adventure lifestyle, Jake’s seizures began to ev...

Adventurer. Soldier. Author. Jordan Wylie is known for his challenges at the extreme end of the adventure spectrum. Described by Sir Ranulph Fiennes as “A determined, fearless adventurer and an inspiring man”, Jordan has run races in Iraq, Afghansistan and Somalia, he has written a book about his time tackling pirates off the coast of Africa, and he has hiked Kilimajaro... barefoot.  But Jordan is...

Advocate for adventure and epilepsy awareness. Writer. Editor. Podcaster. Public Speaker. In this interview (of sorts) you get to hear more from me, Fran Turauskis. To celebrate the one-year anniversary for seizeyouradventure.com you asked me about my adventures, epilepsy, and more. I talk about:  Finding the way when you’re lost  Adapting adventures to your ability  What having epilepsy has taugh...

Let me take you on a very intimate journey from my first seizure to walking the Norte and Primitivo Caminos. With music recorded whilst I was walking, this will give you an insight into my experience of The Way. On a post-referendum quest to discover more of Europe, I decided to take a five-hundred mile walk across Spain. In the summer of 2017, I set out to walk the Camino de Santiago. I expected...

It is important to acknowledge when we do impressive things. Not just because a sense of pride won’t do us any harm. But because it makes our stories more realistic to that person who is scared that it’s too hard for them. In a strange way, if we acknowledge that something is hard for us, it makes it more attainable to everyone else. Joe Stevenson reached a personal peak when he reached the top of...

This podcast takes you to one of the most remote parts of the UK, an area renowned as the last wilderness of Britain. Even the most touristic areas take some effort to get to. Welcome to the Scottish highlands.  Joe Stevenson tells us about a charity hike he did a couple of years ago. Charity events are a great way of becoming a little bit more adventurous. The challenges are organised for you, th...

In this Q&A, we’ll learn a bit more about Jade Nelson, who wrote and read the Episode 1 story, “Peace in West Texas”.  Jade is a licensed Massage Therapist, Epilepsy Advocate, Public Speaker and Writer based in Austin, Texas. Her focus is helping spread awareness of epilepsy and the ketogenic diet (a high fat, low carb diet that was invented in the 1920s to help control seizures) via her talks...

Camping is one of the simplest ways to spend some time outdoors, so when Jade was determined to get back out into nature, a short camping trip seemed like the obvious choice. When she and her husband Eric set out with their dogs, she had specific expectations. Fond memories of camping trips in the Pacific Northwest and New England meant she hoped to find comfort in the beauty of her surroundings. ...

Start gearing up for the Seize Your Adventure podcast: this is where the adventure community and the epilepsy community meet. This podcast will share intimate stories and conversations from people with epilepsy who enjoy the adventure lifestyle. For those of you who have no contact with epilepsy, these stories will let you connect with the people behind the diagnosis and will give you an idea of h...