Submitted by Rud Verma
💜Meet Ash💜
“Purple Day means a lot to our family. My daughter Ash was a bright and bubbly girl until she was diagnosed with epilepsy and her life changed forever. She experienced many types of seizures: absent, tonic clonic, gelastic, focal, generalised, myoclonic, atonic and non convulsive status epilepticus. She was also diagnosed with encephalitis twice.
Our journey included countless appointments with doctors and neurologists, and many hospital admissions. I honestly thought I would lose Ash and never see her grow older. Epilepsy took away her teens and 20s, followed by the mental health struggles that came with everything she’d endured. In 2020 she was admitted to Barraminya Dubbo Mental Health Unit for what was meant to be 6 weeks but became 3 months and it was the turning point she needed. She hasn’t looked back.
Ash has now been seizure free for 3 years.
I never thought she would be able to become a mum, but at 38 she has an adorable 19 month old daughter. She still needs to be careful not to push herself too hard, but she’s come so far.
Epilepsy affects not just the individual but everyone around them. This is why Purple Day on 26 March is so important to us”
