Rachel Walz

Michele Walz, advocate for daughter Rachel
Rachel was diagnosed: 2000
Type of epilepsy: Complex partial seizures
Lives for: Family

Sometimes, perspective changes everything. Consider the day Michele Walz and her husband proudly presented their daughter Rachel, then three and a half, with her first bike - a red tricycle. "Rachel thought it was so cool, but when she sat on it, she just couldn't make it move," says Walz, from New Jersey.

Yet only a week later, out of sheer determination - and happily unaware that she had epilepsy and cerebral palsy, the results of a stroke when she was six weeks old - Rachel was riding her bike. That's typical, her mother says; whatever obstacles Rachel has encountered, she has always persevered, achieving exactly what she wants. Seeing this pattern repeat itself, time after time, Rachel's family has come to realize that temporary setbacks are, well, temporary.

That was a crucial lesson as Rachel, her parents and siblings struggled through four years of emergency-room visits and unsuccessful trials of several medications before doctors finally diagnosed Rachel's epilepsy. On days when Rachel had multiple seizures, Michele would cuddle with her on the couch for hours watching PBS Kids. When Rachel's brother and three sisters, several years older, came home from school, they would take turns holding her while Michele helped with homework or cooked dinner.

With everyone pitching in, the family pulled together and eventually found the right medication for Rachel, and she was finally approved for Social Security benefits. "We've got great kids we can count on for anything," says Walz. "And now we're a normal family, not living life bound by epilepsy. That is such a joyful thing."

Part of the joy, of course, involves watching Rachel rush fearlessly ahead. "She dribbles a basketball better than any other, and she's in perfect form when she shoots," says her proud mother. "The other day, I bought her cleats for soccer. There is nothing epilepsy has stopped her from doing."

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