A FREE program for youths living with epilepsy and their parents to learn about  options after high school. 

Topics cover:
Þ continuing education,
Þ vocational training,
ρ Social Security benefits,
Þ strategies for working with local education authorities to maximize services in the transition process,
Þ explore career choices through mentors.

Parents learn how to help their children with epilepsy achieve their full potential.
Open to all young people living with epilepsy ages 15 through 22 and their parents.
Registration is required, limited capacity for both seminars.

Explore the Possibilities
Boston Museum of Science
9am-3pm
Saturday, June 14th
Free parking and passes to the Museum Exhibit Hall.  Discounted tickets to the Omni Theatre, the Planetarium, the Butterfly Garden or 3D showing following the seminar.

To register, email support@efmri.org.  The event is free and open to all family, friends and educators.

Please download the flyer and agenda here.

This is a seminar put on by the Epilepsy Foundation of Massachusetts/Rhode Island.  There are two seminars, one later in June held in Rhode Island, however I am only listing the one in Mass, as that is the one I am attending as a Mentor to the teenagers and parents. I highly encourage anyone with teenagers, or if you are a teen, to register for this seminar. I’d love to see you there!

…and take pictures they did! Over 200 people showed up for the walk, raising over $10,000. Channel 6 news followed us around with video cameras, interviewed Kristine Binette (the woman who organized it all!) and met little Delia, the inspiration for the walk.

It was…in a word, amazing. In several words? I was overwhelmed by the amount of people that attended the walk. They ran out of tee-shirts (they ordered 200 I think?) before I even got there, luckily I still managed to get one. My Epi was there with her two sons, along with so many other people I knew from over the telephone because of the support group, or from the EFA, or online

The amount raised was phenomenal as well. For a first ever walk, $10,000 is nothing to laugh at! Kristine Binette deserves a large round of applause and a day out with the ladies for all her hard work. Maybe in a few years time we can raise $80,000 and $100,000! With every dollar raised we are closer to getting more services available to the residents of Maine.

Soooo, I took some fabulous pictures. My friend Wendy took even more fabulous pictures, so did her daughter and her mum. I’m begging her quite often for copies of said photos. Until then…here are the very few I took (I forgot my camera and had to resort to my camera phone!)

This one was taken by Wendy’s mum. From the left: Me, Wendy, Wendy’s two fabulous teenagers

Me, Oonagh (the doggie) Kristine Binette and Delia Binette

Lisa (Maine Neurology) her puppers, Me and my puppers!

Her awareness shirt reads: “Wag! Supports Maine’s First Walk for Epilepsy” She got stamped on her shirt (humans got stamped on their hands) and the bottom shows this website’s address. Oonagh is an Epilepsy Awareness advocate now

Whew, there is a little bit of pressure to make this a fabulous first entry! Lets hope that this blog, and the words contained herein live up to their full potential. The rest of Epilepsy Maine is meant as a tool to educate, gain support and serve as a resource for those both living with and around Epilepsy in the state of Maine.

What the website itself lacked however (although the forums greatly add greatly to that lacking) was a sense of…personality. When the website is “done,” (and I put done in quotations, because with a project like this, it is never truly done. Information is constantly changing and growing with time) it will be jam packed with information, yet even with my name attached to…everything, it lacks human personality.

Information is wonderful. It’s so helpful and when everything I want is posted up on the website I hope that people find the information they are seeking when they type www.epilepsymaine.com or any of the other subsidaries (.net, .org, .info) into their web browser. However, the other big point I want to get across to Maine residents living with Epilepsy is that it is not something that they have to live with alone, or silently.

I started this blog with the intent of telling my own stories about Epilepsy, co-mingled with news from around Maine (and New England) that I am involved in that might be of interest to my readers. I also thought I’d include little website tidbits from time to time. (Like for example, that all the combined domains listed above have netted quite literally thousands of hits from people searching the 1st Maine Walk for Epilepsy we just had in Saco, to people searching for medical ID jewelry….even people specifically searching for me….that’s pretty impressive for a website that’s in it’s begining stages!)

So…that being said, welcome to my blog!

Allow me a belated introduction.

My name is Browen Mead. I am the creator of EpilepsyMaine. I’m 24 years old, and yes, I have Epilepsy. Specifically, I have a type of seizure known as Absence Seizures. I’ve had them, noticably, since I was 12 years old, however, I went undiagnosed until I was 20 years old. I am also a certified H.O.P.E. Mentor (Helping Other People with Epilepsy).

I’m currently on a cocktail of Topamax and Lamictal, trying to find the right dosage/combination that will completely stop my seizure activity, as I am currently experiencing breakthrough seizures.

I do normal young-adult activities. My Epilepsy does not hold me back nor does it limit me in most ways. (I can’t drive right now, so that’s an exception to that statement) I like to go biking, kayaking, hiking and swimming in the summer. I enjoy occasional nights out on the town with my friends to the Old Port. I travel (by the way, I highly recommend Jet Blue, they’re fantastic) and go to concerts…I have two jobs (one is for a non-profit and only one day a week) and my own apartment.

My point remains - and this is the point I carry forth with me and give to all Mainer’s living with with a seizure disorder. It’s tough as heck, there is no diminishing that fact. However, *I* am a person with Epilepsy. The Epilepsy does not have me. These are tried and true words. I cannot emphasize enough their importance in my life…and in yours.