Montrose woman has ‘dramatic’ response to epilepsy treatment

Health: Help from William Quarrier Scottish Epilepsy Centre hailed

An Angus mother and daughter have praised life-changing support from a national epilepsy centre.

Jackie Kelly from Montrose is affected by epilepsy and cerebral palsy.

Only through help from the William Quarrier Scottish Epilepsy Centre (WQSEC) has she been able to combat her condition, which saw her suffering more than 100 seizures in a day.

Jackie, 50, lives with her mother due to her condition.

She began experiencing seizures when she was aged seven. One was so severe it broke a bone in her back.

They became worse when she was 11 and she has lived with multiple daily seizures ever since, regularly having more than 12 a day.

In 2013 Jackie and her family began receiving free support from Lorraine Mcnab, Quarriers’ epilepsy fieldworker for central and south Aberdeenshire.

Lorraine provided information, support and advice on managing the condition and accessing resources.

Jackie’s mother Margaret said: “Lorraine gave us a lot of advice and support.”

“The change in Jackie postoperation has been dramatic. LORRAINE MCNAB

Jackie was referred to the WQSEC in Govan where she was observed for a month.

The time at the centre was the tipping point in her road to recovery.

Margaret said: “Jackie is a very positive person and always smiles and says nothing’s wrong, so this initially made it difficult for doctors to know exactly what was going on.

“However, when she was under constant observation they were able to see the full extent of her condition.”

Dr Razvi, a consultant at the centre, recommended Jackie have corpus callosotomy surgery.

Following the operation three months ago Jackie’s seizures have dramatically reduced. She has experienced two tonic clonic seizures and five to six small twitches in total.

Margaret said: “I can see a real difference in Jackie. She’s so much brighter. None of this would have come about had she not got into the William Quarrier Scottish Epilepsy Centre.”

Lorraine added: “The change in Jackie post-operation has been dramatic...the transformation has been amazing.”

For further information about the William Quarrier Scottish Epilepsy visit scottishepilepsycentre.org.uk

To benefit from Quarriers’ Epilepsy Fieldwork Service, which operates across Scotland, self-refer via phone, in person or in writing to the local fieldworker. For contact details go to quarriers.org.uk/services/epilepsyfieldwork/

An operation has greatly helped Jackie Kelly’s epilepsy, said her mother Margaret.