Finding the “Peace” of the Puzzle

Meet Chariyah Smith… She was referred by a social worker for UM Epilepsy Center where she was  recently diagnosed with epilepsy. She is being monitored by UM’s Epilepsy Center for onset seizures With this life changing diagnosis, she strives to normalize life with an added medical condition. Chariyah has recently become aware of the resources from Epilepsy Alliance Florida and has participated in phone consultations with her case manager.
She looks forward to in-person participation soon when things are better with COVID. Chariyah is happy to know there are available support avenues which are significant to her life as she pieces together the puzzle to help build a positive support system and help decrease her stress. The most significant change for her is knowing there are others out there with going through some of the same things she is experiencing.  She really hopes to be able to provide some empowering examples for people who are facing a puzzling medical situation through services and connectedness. She expresses her pieces are still not altogether with what’s going on with her neurologically but hopes to find some peace being around others who are battling the same battle.
Chariyah says having a case worker who is able to inform her about resources is such a great relief. Having people point her in the right direction really helps and having people who are living their normal day to day life inspires her to  bring hope and tenacity for the future. She also expresses with everything being so new, it is a big challenge to work to put the pieces back together because she also has a lot of other medical issues going on. This can be overwhelming and the timing of her issues happened during transitioning from high school into adulthood. Her journey is challenging but the support provided by Epilepsy Alliance Florida helps smooth out the bumps.