Article November 10, 2003 Issue

A healing of epilepsy opened life's doors

By Ralph Wright

AS A VERY young boy I was plagued with convulsions. I'd wake up at the wrong end of the bed, and my brother would tell me I'd had a convulsion during the night. At first this happened only once or twice a year. At the age of 12, my mother placed me in Boston's Children's Hospital for examination. I went through a series of tests but was not given any treatment or medicine, and then I returned home. The hospital staff offered no solution to the problem.

Four years later, during my junior year in high school, I had two convulsions on two successive Fridays, which frightened both my teachers and the other students. I was playing basketball at the time and was told to stop playing for a while. After two weeks, I resumed playing, but two weeks later, at home, I had two convulsions a few hours apart. My mother, who was a medical nurse, then arranged for me to go to Massachusetts General Hospital for further examination. I was given a series of tests over a two-day period, but again was given no medical treatment or medicine.

My mother came to bring me home, and, before leaving the hospital, we had a meeting with the head physician, who told me that I had been having epileptic convulsions. He then said: "We really don't know what to do about you or for you, but we think your condition has something to do with your diet. We think that if you go on a special diet and eat nothing that is difficult to digest, you might lead a half-normal life."