THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Monday, October 7, 1996 TAG: 9610070039
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY SUSIE STOUGHTON, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: SUFFOLK LENGTH: 134 lines
Without warning, Dawn C. Lassiter loses her way as she walks in the neighborhood where she has lived for years.
Disoriented, she stares at names of streets that could as easily be a world away as a couple of blocks from home. And even after her confusion clears, usually within half an hour, she doesn't recognize neighbors she has known for decades.
It's the kind of behavior that sometimes brings police, who might suspect intoxication. But Lassiter wants the officers to know that drugs or alcohol are not the only possible causes. She has even arranged seminars to teach city police how to handle cases like hers.
Lassiter, 37, has a seizure disorder. Its symptoms rob her of independence, her ability - temporarily - to cope and, worst of all, memory.
Despite her difficulties, she is on a mission to help others understand epilepsy and how they can cope with seizures or deal with someone with the disorder.
She knows the isolation of epilepsy. She cannot drive, so she walks wherever she goes during the day while her husband works. She struggles to maintain control, keeping a calendar, her to-do list and a journal where she can easily consult them.
Still, she considers herself lucky.
``I have seen enough that I've come to the conclusion that I don't have any problems,'' she said. ``I have irritations. I have inconveniences. I have challenges. But I don't have problems.''
On a recent weekend, Lassiter had a seizure Friday afternoon, another Saturday morning and yet another that afternoon.
``It creates real loneliness, almost depression,'' she said. ``I'm limited to how much I can get out.''
Yet she is determined to live to the fullest the moments between her ``lost' times.
She wants to help others overcome the fear or shame of epilepsy. She wants to share a hope for them and their families, who often misunderstand the disorder.
Epilepsy produces many types of seizures, said Suzanne Bishoff, director of the Epilepsy Foundation of Virginia. They range from generalized absence, formerly called petit mal, to generalized tonic-clonic, once known as grand mal - perhaps most commonly known.
About a year and a half ago, Lassiter tried to organize a support group, but no one came. She tried another location and time of day; no one showed.
So she turned her attention to educating others, ``so people can learn more, understand more and may be less quick to make judgments.'' She obtained pamphlets and brochures and distributed them to the public library, city offices and Obici Hospital. She set up booths at public events, each time telling people how to get more information or help.
``I don't know how much impact I have made on the community. Any progress is progress.
``Anything I can do to help bring about more community awareness, in the process I might make my own life easier.''
Bishoff, of the Epilepsy Foundation of Virginia, called Lassiter ``our most valuable volunteer.''
At Lassiter's prodding, Bishoff led two training workshops for Suffolk police. Lassiter assisted, relating first-hand accounts.
``Dawn is one of the exceptions,'' Bishoff said. ``Mostly, people don't want to talk about it.''
A third seminar was conducted by Sentara's Comprehensive Epilepsy Program.
Local police often help her, Lassiter said. ``They see to my safety, that I don't wander off, have my purse taken or go up to someone's door and bother them.''
Lassiter's problems began when she was a teen-ager. She began having seizures while she was a student at the University of Southern Mississippi.
``I didn't know my name,'' she said. ``I was completely disoriented.''
Campus security officers would search her purse, believing she was on drugs. They would find unmarked vials of pills, but she would be unable to explain.
Finally, they would call her parents, who could explain.
``It got to the point that every security officer knew me,'' she said.
Then, when they would find her disoriented, they would let her rest.
Eventually, she gave up her dream of medical school and switched her major to philosophy.
After moving to Suffolk, she met her future husband, Billy.
``If ever a gift was sent from God, he was it,'' she said. ``He's as patient, kind, loving and understanding as any woman could dream of. He has made all the difference in the world in my life.''
Everyone needs something to do, something to look forward to and someone to love, she said. ``I have those things.''
She plays piano for a men's Sunday school class at Suffolk Christian Church, attends midweek Bible classes there and volunteers at the Salvation's Army's soup kitchen and area nursing homes.
Recently, she had a seizure when she was out walking.
``I came to, and I was leaning over the hood of somebody's truck,'' she said.
She looked at the street sign and wondered where she was. ``I was so close to home it wasn't funny,'' she said.
She started walking, looking for something familiar.
``Because I walk the same route every night, it's almost like my body operates on autopilot,'' she said. ``I saw Billy's truck, then our house, and I knew, `That's where I live.' ''
The next day she saw people she assumed were her neighbors.
``I knew I should have known them, but I didn't,'' she said. ``I went up and said, `Would you mind re-introducing yourself to me?' '' They were kind enough to do it.''
She walks cautiously as she pays bills, buys stamps and picks up prescriptions - careful to stick to routine.
``One single thing that has sustained me is my faith in God,'' she said. ``I just know that someone is keeping watch over me.''
She also keeps her sense of humor. ``If I have a seizure, I just start re-learning,'' she said. ``In the process, you get to meet new people and have new experiences all the time.''
Her mission is to help others understand epilepsy.
She has been called stubborn, but ``I prefer `determined' or `resolute,' '' she said. ``Everything in me says I won't give up. To live with a seizure disorder, to have recurring seizures, you can't give up.'' ILLUSTRATION: Dawn C. Lassiter of Suffolk may sometimes become
disoriented and lose her way on a neighborhood walk, but she has
never lost her spirit.
ABOUT EPILEPSY
Epilepsy is a disorder of the brain, not a mental illness.
One in every 100 people has epilepsy, about 61,000 Virginians.
It can be caused by any brain injury, including a stroke, or a
disease of the central nervous system.
Epilepsy can develop at any time, though most often before 18 or
after 65.
Epilepsy affects people of all races.
Most seizures occur in the mornings, so employers should schedule
epileptics on an afternoon shift.
Epilepsy can produce many types of seizures. Most require no
first aid unless a seizure becomes convulsive.
To get more information:
Contact Epilepsy Foundation of America at 1-800-ERA-1000 or at
www.efa.org on the Internet; Epilepsy Association of Virginia at
804-924-8678 or by e-mail - epassofva(AT)aol.com; or Sentara's
Comprehensive Epilepsy Program at 668-3127. by CNB