Meet Joseph Rocha, whose condition doesn’t define him. Instead he lives each day with optimism as an epilepsy hero.
About Joseph
Hello, my name is Joseph Rocha. I’m 44 years old, I’m from Los Angeles, CA and I have epilepsy. I spend my time throughout the week staying optimistic; I have learned to live my life like everybody else, the only thing is I can’t drive or cook.I try to do the best I can with house chores and errands to stay busy, but, sometimes, I get tired and frustrated. Also, sometimes I get headaches and I have to stop and take a rest.
Learn more: Migraines and epilepsy
Joseph’s epilepsy story
I started having seizures when I was really young, around 2 years old. When I was a baby, I got meningitis, and that’s where my neurologist says I got epilepsy from.
Epsy & Joseph
Epsy has helped me manage my condition by reminding me when it’s time to take my medications. It also helps me a lot by keeping track of my auras and seizures, especially because it logs in the time that I had them in the app. My favorite feature is that Epsy allows me to log my auras and seizures on a daily basis. This way I can keep track of how many auras and seizures I had on a daily, weekly and monthly basis, that way I have a record to show my neurologist.
The perception of epilepsy in society
Sometimes, people are not familiar with epilepsy, or do not understand it, so when they see us having a seizure, they think that we are “crazy” and don’t even know that epilepsy is a medical disorder that exists. I have learned to manage this perception by not letting what other people think bother me. I have learned to stay positive and optimistic, and it has helped me a lot.
*Thank you to Joseph for sharing his epilepsy story, Epsy is on a mission to give the world a better way to live with epilepsy.*