“Once More With Feeling”

Okay, so I’ve had “Buffy, The Musical” going around my head for weeks now, but the title I’ve chosen is actually relevant to this blog post. This post is about strength in numbers, strength in the face of adversity, meeting challenges head-on and overcoming hurdles. Read more under the cut.

I would like to tell you about a very special young lady by the name of Danni Warner (news article in link). At just 14 years old, sports fanatic Danni has spent the last 14 months coming to terms with a diagnosis of epilepsy, after suffering a series of mysterious seizures and undergoing numerous tests.

Danni is, by no means, an ordinary girl. Instead of mourning everything she’s had to give up (she spent a few months unable to play football, but is now back on the pitch) she’s taken the bull by the horns and is organising a fun run in aid of Epilepsy Action, hoping to also raise epilepsy awareness.

As an advocate, supporter, lifetime member of Epilepsy Action and an epileptic, I decided it couldn’t hurt to spread the word.

Coming to terms with such a life changing condition can be difficult and extremely painful. I still look back at all the things I can no longer do (ride a bicycle, swim professionally, be a motorbike passenger, drive, bathe unaided etc.) and become depressed, and I forget to live in the now – with my wonderful husband who loves me, and my beautiful garden and my cross-stitching. Not to mention the pickling, which I may never have discovered if I were still leading an ordinary life with a job and other responsibilities. I often forget to make the best of what I still have in favour of dreaming about everything I’ve lost, and I think that most people are guilty of this.

I am not “making do” – I am simply leading a different life to the one that I thought I would be living. No, I am not the staff nurse I dreamed of becoming in my days as a care assistant, but I have found other ways and means of caring for others. I am not a lesser person than I used to be.

I am quite possibly older than Danni’s mother. Age may bring wisdom, but sometimes it takes the refreshing tolerance and enthusiasm of a bright young girl to make you see the bigger picture.

Kudos to you, Danni. You’ve inspired a middle-aged woman who you’ve never met not to give up and let the disability consume her. Thank you, and my very best wishes to you for your fun run.