Suzie joined St Elizabeth’s school at the age of 13 years.  She had previously been in a mainstream secondary school.

Suzie was diagnosed with Symptomatic generalised Epilepsy at the age of 6 years and by the age of 13 years her seizures had never managed to be controlled despite many trials of anti-epileptic drug treatments.

At 13 years she was experiencing many partial and generalised seizures per day and from sleep.  Her epilepsy impacted on every aspect of her life, she was either having seizures, recovering from seizures or sleep deprived from disturbed sleep.

She was unable to access learning or leisure due to constant poor seizure control and had no quality of life.

At St Elizabeth’s school Suzie was able to access learning and leisure in an environment which provides a 24 hour curriculum, supported by a health team who re-evaluated her treatment, picked apart previous drug trials and constantly worked to establish better seizure control.

Suzie’s mood and self esteem was greatly affected by this and her abilities compared to her siblings was widening.  Suzie could also remember life before her seizures started and was grieving for her previous life.  Suzie was able to have access to therapeutic and counselling services at St Elizabeth’s to help her cope with these issues.

The health team working together with Professor Cross at the on site Great Ormond Street outreach clinics provided the expertise to investigate and instigate new treatment plans.  After monitoring of seizure patterns and seizure types, treatment options, considering surgery and diet options to control seizures, a further medication trial was started.  This changed her life and eventually she was for the first time since the age of 6 years seizure free.  By the time Suzie was 19 years and leaving school she had been seizure free for 2 years and was able to consider a future, enjoyed the social life of having friends and boyfriends and wanted to build on her independence and go to college.

Suzie was able to go to St Elizabeth’s college to capitalise on further education in an environment that could support independence skills for life whilst continue to ensure her epilepsy remained under good control and management.