Sophomore Addie Lynch has been suffering from epilepsy since she was nine years old, when she was diagnosed with it. Epilepsy is a disorder where nerve cell activity in the brain is disturbed which causes seizures, and there is no cure as of now, only treatment. 

The seizures come at unexpected times. Lynch has experienced seizures in random places from a movie theater to her middle school classroom. 

“My high school life has ups and downs,” Lynch said. “Epilepsy makes it a little hard to concentrate, but I try my hardest to get good grades.”

A neurosurgeon from Texas, Dr. Jeffrey Raskin, came to Riley Children’s Hospital to perform the surgery. It was not done with his hands, but instead with a tiny machine he controlled. The purpose of the surgery was to place a pacemaker for the brain, which monitors and treats seizures simultaneously. 

Raskin placed the pacemaker in Lynch’s head that put wires into her brain to help give doctors a read on her seizures when she has them. They are hopeful that the readings from the device will hopefully help them find a way to stop the seizures, such as a medicine that will stop the seizures permanently for now. 

Lynch stayed at Riley for a couple more days post-op to make sure everything went smoothly and that she was okay. 

“I was tired and hurting, but the nurses and doctors there are kind,” Lynch said. “They pretty much always had something nice to say.”

Discharged three days after her surgery, Lynch is now looking forward to hopefully being able to do more every day things. Epilepsy makes it unsafe to drive as seizures could come at any moment, but with the pacemaker, Lynch will finally have the freedom to drive. 

“I am probably most excited to get my license after all of this because my cousin that is sixteen and a few months younger than me almost has his license,” Lynch said.