Danielle, an epilepsy advocate with a love for travel who keeps VALTOCO nearby for peace of mind*

Danielle's story

An epilepsy advocate with a love for travel who keeps VALTOCO nearby for peace of mind*

*Individual results may vary.

Growing up with epilepsy

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I am a daughter, sister, and epilepsy advocate. I grew up with my loving parents and younger brother, which created a great childhood. A childhood that would take one heck of a detour the morning of my first day of third grade.” 

My parents knew something was very wrong when, on that morning, they were unable to wake me for school. They quickly gathered me and my brother and rushed to a local children’s hospital. After a ton of tests—MRIs, CT scans, blood work, EEGs, and various other prodding and probing—the neurologist diagnosed me with epilepsy.

“As I got older, the time it would take for me to recover from my seizures gradually got longer and longer, while the frequency lessened. I couldn’t just wake up a few hours after my seizures like I used to and be okay. Instead, it took two or three days to fully recover from each seizure. And that’s how things progressed into my teen years.”

The need for something more

“Through EEGs, MRIs, and about a dozen other tests, they were able to quickly determine that my seizures were coming from my frontal lobe. If uncontrolled, my seizures would affect those functions associated with the frontal lobe, such as reasoning, planning, and long-term memory. 

“This scared the life out of me. I was on a daily seizure medication, sure, but I still struggled with seizure control. My mother had diazepam rectal gel to use as an immediate-use seizure medication in case of episodes of frequent seizures, but who wants their mom using that on them? It was not ideal. I yearned to be independent and manage things on my own.”

Updating her Seizure Action Plan with VALTOCO

“I remember when I was about 19 years old, I wanted to take a trip to South Africa by myself. I was tired of epilepsy controlling where I went and who I went with. Having a Seizure Action Plan has allowed me a little peace of mind and freedom to travel solo.

“But there was still one part I had to figure out—my immediate-use seizure medication. So a few years ago, I was talking with my epileptologist, who suggested VALTOCO. The same medication, but no more rectal administration? Yes, please.


“Now I have VALTOCO on hand with me everywhere I go. It gives me peace of mind because it’s less embarrassing to use and it’s easy to train others around me how to use it. I’m really pleased at how quickly VALTOCO works to stop my seizure clusters.


“There is something empowering about finding an immediate-use seizure medication that works for you, and I think for me, this was a sign that something could be done about epilepsy, that we didn’t have to let it rule over our lives anymore.”

CT = computed tomography; EEG = electroencephalogram; MRI = magnetic resonance imaging.

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Maurene, a career mom with episodes of frequent seizures

I thought that I was being fearless by enduring the seizure, or focal seizure, without taking medication. . . . My doctor later told me that I was actually doing damage to myself.”

Maurene

A career mom with epilepsy