Maxine: Hi Maria! Thank you for the invitation to participate in your phone chat project. Personal stories are always interesting. Maria: Hi Maxine! Not a problem. It is always lovely catching up with you. Where shall we begin? Maxine: My epilepsy story started back when I was 14 years old, just as I hit puberty. It was the end of the beginning as I felt

Maria: Hi Thomas! It is always a treat to catch up with you. I am sure that I am going to enjoy another lively conversation. Tell me how are we going to start our phone chat conversation? Thomas: I am going to give our chat a title, “The economics of disability”. Maria: Wow! Okay I am really interested to see where this leads. Thomas: As

Maria: Hi Alicia, thank you for taking the time to have a chat with me today. I understand that having epilepsy has created many challenges for you. Alicia: Yes, living with epilepsy has certainly been challenging, heart breaking, and at times overwhelming. There are days where my brain feels as though it could explode as I have tension headaches on a daily basis. Social occasions

Maria: Hi Julie, would you like to participate in a phone chat with me? As you know I do a community project each year and this year I am having ‘phone chats’ with people. Julie: I sure would. I can talk for days about epilepsy. I also love to hear what others have to say about their own epilepsy stories. It helps me to realise

Maria: Hi Jill! Thank you for the work that you do for EWCT and for also agreeing to be part of yet another of my community projects. People like you are pivotal to the success of community groups such as ours and your support has been unwavering. Jill: Thank you Maria. It is important that people with epilepsy help others by sharing stories. For me,

Maria: Hi Jackson, thank you for having a phone chat today. I see that you are really heavily into music and kung fu. Two really hard disciplines to follow. Please tell me about them and how they have helped you on your epilepsy journey. Jackson: I grew up with epilepsy from the age of 6 years old. I was the one who sat at the

Maria: Hi Lisa, thank you for asking to take part in this year’s community project. You wanted to talk about the events that your son, Jordan, couldn’t remember in his epilepsy story. Events that took you on a roller coaster ride of emotions and so I thank you for sharing your thoughts. I know that, as a parent, supporting our children through epilepsy can be

Maria: Hi Jordan, it has been a while since our last chat. Your mum proudly said that you are working hard in your job over this Covid-19 lockdown but that you would make time to share your epilepsy story with others. In these uncertain times, I believe that your story offers hope to those who are struggling with epilepsy and so thank you for agreeing

Maria: Hi Jan, thank you for participating in our community project called “Our phone chat”. Everyone has a story worthy to be told and, in this project, we are going to chat about your epilepsy story and how epilepsy has impacted on your life. Please tell me a bit about yourself. Jan: I was born in the Waikato to farming parents straight after the war