Seizing Life

Landis Wiedner shares her journey with adult-onset epilepsy after being diagnosed at the age of thirty-two. She describes how seizures impacted her life and work, explains how a stay in and epilepsy monitoring unit led to a life-changing medication change, and shares her experiences dating with epilepsy.

Comedian, actress, and podcaster Stanzi Potenza shares her experiences growing up and living with epilepsy while pursuing her dreams of a career in entertainment.

Dr. Elinor Ben-Menachem, epileptologist, researcher and professor at Sweden’s University of Gothenburg, shares insights and experiences from her 40-plus years working with clinical trials and providing care to refractory epilepsy patients.

Journalist Lauren Aguirre and Dr. Elizabeth Thiele, the authors of the recently published “Epilepsy for Dummies,” discuss their collaboration and explain why their perspectives as epilepsy patient/parent and provider were essential in creating a reliable resource for those living with epilepsy and those who love them.

Dr. Kendra Cagniart shares her son’s journey with epilepsy, from a traumatic birth in which he arrived in status epilepticus through his current period of seizure freedom at the age of 9. This is an amazing and ultimately hopeful journey of a young boy living with epilepsy.

In honor of SUDEP Action Day on Wednesday, October 15th, we speak with Maria Teresa Ioannou of the Joanna Sophia Foundation who tragically lost her nine-year-old daughter Joanna Sophia to SUDEP in 2018.

Dr. Olivia Hoffman, post-doctoral researcher in Dr. Avtar Roopra’s lab at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, discusses one of the most exciting discoveries in epilepsy research in recent years, a repurposed drug that has shown remarkable promise in eliminating seizures and restoring cognition in mice.

Longtime CURE Epilepsy Champion and current board member Shalee Cunneen comes back to the podcast to share her family’s journey with epilepsy and fundraising efforts for a new CURE Epilepsy research initiative.

Dr. Dan Lowenstein discusses the current efforts to push Congress to adopt a National Plan for Epilepsy, explaining who is behind it, what it is, and what it could mean to the epilepsy community.

Mike Simmel shares his epilepsy journey, explains how his passion for basketball helped him navigate the impacts of epilepsy, and recounts how a personal experience with epilepsy stigma inspired him to help kids with epilepsy and other challenges.

Dr. Connie Tomaino, music therapist and co-founder of the Institute for Music and Neurologic Function, discusses how music therapy is used to treat neurologic conditions and explains what we know about the power of music to heal the brain.

This month on Seizing Life® Dr. Kelly Tyson shares her decade-long journey to an epilepsy diagnosis. Despite numerous visits to various medical experts through the years and majoring in neuroscience in college, Kelly was never referred to a neurologist, nor did she recognize the “episodes” she experienced as seizures. Kelly details how she managed these episodes through college, graduate school, a...

This month Seizing Life® goes on location at the Joey’s Song Freezing Man Festival to speak with Kay Hanley and John Cowsill, two musicians with personal connections to epilepsy who participated in the multiday music festival to raise money for epilepsy research.

Patricia Dean, ARNP and the Epilepsy Network Specialist in the Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at Nicklaus Children’s Hospital in Miami, discusses managing the relationship with your child’s epilepsy care team.

Dr. Madeleine Oudin shares her daughter’s epilepsy journey following a devastating genetic diagnosis and the onset of infantile spasms, and explains how it has impacted her work as a researcher in pursuing a new potential therapy around the SCN8A gene.

Joey’s Song founder Mike Gomoll shares his son’s epilepsy story and discusses the creation, growth, and evolution of Joey’s Song into the multi-artist, multi-day, “Freezing Man Festival.”

In observance of Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP) Action Day on October 16th, we speak with the Maffie family about the tragic loss of Anthony Maffie to SUDEP and their advocacy and fundraising efforts in Anthony’s honor.

This month we welcome Matthew Summerfield to the podcast. Matthew has lived with epilepsy since his first seizure at the age of eleven. Though he was advised early on not to tell anyone about his epilepsy, Matthew has refused to be held back by seizures, studying neurosceience as a college undergraduate, and now pursuing a PhD while working in an epilepsy research lab at the University of Iowa.

This month on Seizing Life® we speak with Dr. Elisa Zanier of the Mario Negri Institute in Milan, Italy about the current state of research into Post-Traumatic Epilepsy (PTE) in the wake of a recent International Conference on PTE co-hosted by CURE Epilepsy.

After losing her son to a rare form of epilepsy called NORSE, or New Onset Refractory Status Epilepticus, Nora Wong set out to get answers from doctors and researchers. When she found little information and more questions, she founded the NORSE Institute to raise awareness and fund research into this sudden and devastating form of epilepsy.

This month on Seizing Life® Jon Tuteur shares his journey with adult-onset epilepsy. From his first seizure at age thirty, through his epilepsy diagnosis, treatment, and eventual brain surgery, Jon discuses the physical and emotional impacts of seizures, medications, diagnostic tests, and medical procedures in pursuit of controlling his epilepsy. He also tells us about his forthcoming book Seizing...

Dr. Laura O’Dwyer joins us to talk about the fastest growing segment of people living with epilepsy in the United States – older adults. Dr. O’Dwyer explains why adults are more likely to develop epilepsy later in life, outlines the challenges of recognizing, diagnosing, and treating epilepsy in older adults, and provides valuable information for older adults living with epilepsy and their caregiv...

This month on Seizing Life® author Laura Beretsky shares her decades-long journey with epilepsy, from diagnosis at age 6, through college, parenting, fighting discrimination in the workplace, and ultimately seizing control of her epilepsy via life-changing surgery.

This month on Seizing Life® a nurse and mother shares her young son’s journey from the onset of focal seizures to a devastating diagnosis of Rasmussen’s Encephalitis to a life-changing brain surgery.

This month on Seizing Life® we explore artificial intelligence as it relates to epilepsy care, how it’s impacting the process of diagnosing epilepsy and treatment today, and what it promises for the future.