富兰克林D. Roosevelt once said, “…the only thing we have to fear is...恐惧本身.” And after three brain surgeries at Sutter Medical Center, no one knew that better than Patti Palamidessi. 第三次手术时, the doctors removed 70% of her hippocampus and 40% of her amygdala – the areas in the brain that help interpret perceived threats and where your fear response starts.
You have that strength inside of you…everyone does.
But why did Patti need three brain surgeries to begin with? She had epilepsy all her life but didn’t know it until age 16 when she had a grand mal seizure. She diligently took her meds and received great care. Patti began adjusting and was grateful to continue living life normally until her 30s, when the seizures started getting longer and stronger. 她38岁的时候. 克雷格·沃森博士. 柯利·科布,还有已故的. Robert Bergermen per为med Patti’s first surgery at Sutter Medical Center to insert electrodes into her brain. Those electrodes recorded that Patti had suffered 165 seizures in 10 days.
前面的路还很长. 帕蒂必须重新学习很多东西——数字, 字母表, names of things and people she once knew — all while dealing with a lot of fear, mainly due to the removal of portions of her brain. Luckily Patti had the support of her “angels” as she calls them – the doctors, nurses and hospital staff at Sutter who were always kind, gave her confidence and helped her get through one of the toughest battles of her life. 她的主治医生. Watson—actually spearheaded an epilepsy program, dedicated to caring 为 children and adults with epilepsy and helping those with epilepsy-like spells determine causes and solutions.
好像这场战斗还不够, Patti is now also recovering from kidney cancer this, 她最近在哪里切除了左肾. Through it all, however, she never gave up hope or lost her will to come out healthier and stronger. “You have that strength inside of you…everyone does,” said Patti.
It was through these experiences that Patti decided to give back to 萨特的健康 with a donation.“萨特改变了我的生活,”帕蒂说. “That’s why I want to give back and help them give to others,” she said. “I just feel that epilepsy is something that isn’t understood very well and affects more people than we all realize.”
她是对的. 根据癫痫基金会, there are more than twice as many people with epilepsy in the U.S. 就像脑瘫患者的数量一样, 肌肉萎缩症, 多发性硬化症, 和囊性纤维化的结合.
Despite recent therapeutic advances, over 50% of adults with epilepsy experience refractory seizures. 萨特的健康 has Level 4 epilepsy care guided by leading-edge research including novel neuroimaging techniques to “map” brain activity during seizures, and clinical trials of promising new drugs and/or treatment approaches such as deep brain stimulation/responsive brain neurostimulation 为 the treatment of uncontrolled seizures.
Patti Palamidessi lives in Sacramento where she is a third-generation co-owner of Club Pheasant with her two brothers. 她在社区里也很活跃, 建立对许多健康问题的认识, 特别是癫痫, 她写了一本书叫 另一个四个字母的单词:帕蒂的故事 – an inspiring true story of her incredible journey