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I can volunteer to mentor and/or simply be a compassionate listener to those from high school, college or NFL football ranks who have lost their career due to seizures. I am an annual MRI patient of MAYO in Jacksonville. I was an entrepreneur of an engineering firm, established in 1989. We had a successful practice for almost 20 years. Epilepsy forced me to release my employees and cease offering services. I know what mental and financial stress and quality-of-life challenges that results from having a career that one loves with a large social network to having neither all in a matter of 3 months. I have the capability to help someone learn how to deal with quality of life changes, make (non-medical or legal) recommendations and hopefully be the start of his new social network. Of course, I would follow any guidelines, recommendations, etc. mandated by Mayo. This form of volunteering is seriously needed, as personally ending one's life is sometimes considered an option to having a life where few care about one's previous notoriety and success. I hope someone with Mayo contacts me.
Replies to "I can volunteer to mentor and/or simply be a compassionate listener to those from high school,..."
@royanthony - it sounds as though you've lost a lot due to your epilepsy. I'm really sorry.
It also sounds as though you'd have lots to give to other epilepsy patients. At Mayo Clinic Connect, we are not directly connected to Mayo Clinic volunteering, but I imagine they'd be interested in talking to you about volunteering at Mayo Clinic in FL.
Please see this site for information and an application:
- Becoming a volunteer https://www.mayoclinic.org/about-mayo-clinic/volunteers/florida/becoming-volunteer
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I thought more about what you shared in your post and the openness of your comments. Most of us have been to that very dark place and it is nothing to take lightly. I really have to suggest you speak with one of the moderators of this group and/or even call your local providers to get help. What you shared is very serious and you need to take ownership of it and get the support you need. Please. Once again most of us have been there so we understand.
Finally, please don't live in the past. It is never helpful. You have to accept that version of you is gone. It will never come back. The Mayo PRC program says that is your Version A. Version B is when your symptoms started. Version B, as you shared in your comment, is not in a good place. Version B tends to focus on all that things we had in Version A and wants to go back to things as they used to be and falsely assumes everything was great back then. We forget that while good things weren't always great. To be our best version of us we need to get to Version C. Version C is able to moderate our activities, avoid pushing and crashing, accepts ourselves the way we are, and is able to grieve what has happened. It is like a walk up a flight of stairs. We must take one small step every day to reaching the best we can be. We all battle with living in our Version B or idealizing our life that eventually we'll get back to Version A which is just not going to happen.
You are strong. You were open in your comment. That is huge. You also want to help others. That is huge. Heck you are on Mayo Connect. Once again that is huge. You are a fighter! You are a champion! I told someone recently epilepsy is a blessing. They looked at me with amazement. I shared epilepsy is helping me to become a better version of myself than I ever would have been without my diagnosis. I never would have woke up in the middle of the night to think of someone I barely know and say a quick prayer for them and consider the depth of what they shared. I never would have gotten up and headed right to my laptop to write to them. Never would have happened. I focus on what I can do not on what I can't. Am I sensitive? Absolutely. Do I still cry? Absolutely. Do I still mourn? Absolutely. But it is that I face those things and don't quit that makes me a champion. I know that in some cases just showing up means I'm a winner. And so are you!