I have been working on a Nevada Epilepsy Support Club so I can get people in Carson City and other towns to learn how to cope and communicate with people with epilepsy.
Anywhere you're at - schools, jobs and also on the streets - there may be a person who has epilepsy having a seizure, and some people don't want to show any care about it. And what are they going to do when their kids or friends or their family start having seizures? Are they going not to care for them and not to want them around any more?
People need to learn and know what to do when they see someone having a seizure. It would be like a person having a heart attack and falling to the ground. And people would help them out and wouldn't keep on walking.
That's why when a person is having a seizure they need to stop and help that person instead of just walking on by. Because some people that have epilepsy can fall to the ground. And also if they're lying on their back they can bite their tongue and choke on saliva and blood and can even die choking on it.
That's why I, Richard Hulbert, am starting the Nevada Epilepsy Support Club. Because for the last 40 years, I was treated like an animal because of my epilepsy problem. And myself and other people can't help it that we have a problem with epilepsy.
Some of us have epilepsy from birth or a car accident, and some are form doing drugs. People get epilepsy from different accidents. And it is not a sickness that people can catch from hanging around a person with epilepsy. We are a normal person just like any other person.
People need to understand that when a person has a seizure they can't see what they are doing or even hear a person talking. It's like a power switch being turned off until the seizure stops and the switch is turned back on.
It really hurts when you have epilepsy and you're being kicked around as if you were a dog or a prisoner. It also hurts us that we can't drive or are unable to keep a job.
There are times I wished I wasn't alive with all the problems that I went through. That's why people don't understand there are times we are so quiet or afraid to hang around other people or even say anything. Because it hurts us when our friends and families, or just other people, don't want you around them because they're always afraid that you may have a seizure and may knock something over and break it.
Some people just think that we do everything on purpose and meant to do it. And that is a no. We don't mean to do what we do when we are having a seizure.
Since I started the Nevada Epilepsy Support Club, I've been getting phone calls from people who have epilepsy and also some parents who have kids that have it. And also the ones who have been calling are happy that I have started this epilepsy program because it is making them feel better and happier being able to get together and talk about the seizures they have. They also are learning about different seizures each person has and what to do when they have a seizure. People need to know that we need their help and also need to show more caring on epilepsy.
God always says take your family and friends and the ones you love and care for and want them to be in your warm heart. Always take their hands and walk down the long pathway with them every day, and give them your love, and your care and kindness, and live a cheerful life for years until their lives and the long pathway comes to an end and is sent to heaven.
So please, if you need any information on the Nevada Epilepsy Support Club, contact me at 883-6648 or the Carson City Center of Independent Living at 1923 N. Carson St., No. 102, 841-2580 for information.
The Epilepsy Support Group for people with epilepsy and their families meet the first Monday of each month.
The next meeting will beDec. 4 at 7 p.m. at the Carson City Center of Independent Living. The following meeting will be on Jan. 8 at 7 p.m. in the same place.
Right now there are over 2.3 billion people with epilepsy.
