Jordan’s Story
Hi, my name is Jordan Franz. I am 16 years old and I am a junior in high school. I have had epilepsy for the past 8 years.
When I was 8 I had a grand-mal seizure in the back of my mom’s car. I was put into a medically induced coma for 11 days, the doctors did not think that I would make it. What got me through was my family. Having them by my side, and helping me learn everything over again, is still helping me today. My mom is my best friend. She is always there when I need her, and even when I don’t. School stresses me out a lot. My mom will sit with me and listen to me complain about my teachers or help me with my homework for hours until I’m done talking or want to go to bed.
School with epilepsy
As a junior in high school, I am very fortunate that my school understands that if I miss school a few days it is for medical reasons. They know that I am not skipping. My teachers will email me homework or give it to my mom so I can do it at home. This helps so I won’t be too far behind when I return. My teachers also sit with me and adjust the work for me and double check to make sure that I understand what is going on and what I need to do. When I go to college in a few years, I’m nervous that I won’t be able to find a school that will do this for me. I have started to look at a few colleges close to home that have good resources for people with disabilities.
Related article: New to epilepsy? Start here
Sports with epilepsy
I started to swim when I was about 5 years old but my doctors told me that I had to stop when I developed epilepsy. Soon after leaving swimming, I found bowling. I love it. Bowling is a unique sport that has helped me pull through and made my life much more interesting. I have gone to Ohio and won money for college and gone to nationals and won more money. I plan on bowling until I graduate from high school and seeing if I can bowl in college as well.
High school social life
I find it hard to connect with people my age. Lots of them have not experienced similar things to what I have. I find it easier to talk to adults or people my age who also have epilepsy, or other medical diseases. Most of the people my age that I like to talk to live far away, which means that we don’t get lots of time to hangout. Some of my close friends that live close by get out of school earlier, but they have after school activities and can’t hangout until later in the day. On the weekend, they then have games and other things that they need to do. Those are some reasons that I love the epilepsy group, once every few days I talk to people who have epilepsy about whatever we wish to talk about.
Epilepsy treatment
At this point in my life, my doctors believe that they are close into finding a way to put my epilepsy in remission. My family goes with me every time that I am asked to come into the hospital, and my mom and dad still stay with me at night. When I miss bowling on Saturdays, my teammates are always curious as to what is going on and they want to make sure that I am ok. Having friends that care for me so much means a lot. My close friends always check in with me to make sure I’m ok, even if they have a game that day. School also tells me that if I miss school, to not worry about missing work. They say that my health comes first. My life has been very hard at times but, I wouldn’t change it for anything. I wouldn’t be the person I am today, or have met some of the amazing people I know if I didn’t have epilepsy.
Mary Colwell
Jordan,
I loved reading your blog. You are an inspiration to me every day. Your remarkable family is, as well.
My life is so much richer having awesome you and your family in it.
Much love to all of you!
Mary