Hunter Rolloff is not an ordinary 20 year old. According to the article, “Epilepsy Facts,” 1 in 26 Americans are diagnosed with Epilepsy. Hunter has epilepsy; he talked and walked like a healthy baby until he had encephalitis which is inflammation of the brain, at 14 months old. After being diagnosed with epilepsy, he lost the ability to talk and walk. After countless hours, weeks and months of therapy, he once again gained the ability to walk, but to this day he can say only a very few words. It is important to understand the history, causes and effects and available treatments.
DEFINITION OF EPILEPSY
According to Gregory Goodfellow, author of the book Epilepsy, epilepsy is a common brain disorder. Approximately 150,000 people are diagnosed every day (Goodfellow 14). Epilepsy causes approximately 50,000 deaths a year and 34% of children’s deaths are caused by epilepsy (Epilepsy facts). According to Joseph Sirven, author of the article “What is Epilepsy?”, says epilepsy is one of the top brain-related disorders. Epilepsy is a mental disorder that disturbs the brain momentarily. The brain’s messages may get confused for a long or …show more content…
According to H. Reisner, author of the article “ Epilepsy”, having a scarce amount of ketones in the body can cause epilepsy. ADD INFO According to the article “Epilepsy and Seizures,” some causes of epilepsy are: brain injuries, chromosomal abnormalities, congenital brain malformations, genetically mediated epilepsy syndromes, infections, viral encephalitis, strokes, traumatic brain injuries, and tumors of the nervous system. Epilepsy also causes: anxiety, embarrassment, and loss of control (Goodfellow 51). Most common effect is seizures and they can be scary to watch like this lady experienced , “I looked up from my book and saw that his neck was flung back and his arms were shot downward all stiff. Then his body suddenly loosened up and his right side began shaking” (Goodfellow