Carpe Diem Final

Samuel Fogel woke up one day and his life was changed forever.  Becoming a teenager is hard enough but when 11 year old Sam Fogel woke up in the middle of the night he had no idea he had just had his first seizure.  Sam’s mother MaryBeth told the story from that night, “His older brother Andrew came downstairs and told me that Sam fell off the bed and wasn’t acting right.”  Sam said that Andrew turned him on his side before he ran downstairs and he possibly saved his life.  MaryBeth had worked in hospitals for many years and when she saw Sam she knew he was having a seizure and immediately called 911.  She said, "I have seen it all before, but it rattled me because you never think it will by your child.”  Sam had no recollection of the day before his seizure or the seizure its self.  He went through many hospital visits after his grand mal seizure.  The doctors found that his seizures were nocturnal and could be controlled on high doses of medicine.  He spent several years in and out of the hospital and doctors office hindering his school work and his time of being a child.  “He wanted to keep it private so no one treated him differently, but he was always in such good spirits,” said MaryBeth.  When Samuel was fifteen he went to the Cleveland Clinic to have tests ran and possibly have brain surgery.  While he was at the clinic they took him off his medicine for a span of two hours and he had anywhere from 3-5 major seizures.  The Clinic was monitoring his brain activity and if they could pinpoint where the seizures were active they could do surgery to stop the activity.  What the Clinic found was that there was a high chance that his seizures were child benign, only active in childhood.  MaryBeth said this was a relief because he wouldn't have surgery but it also gave them hope that it would be over soon.  The clinic also had to monitor Sam after they put him back on his medicine, they also gave him medicine for the pain he had after the seizures. “He was high as a kite. He called his brothers, was singing, and talking to everyone.  When he had to go back employees recognized him from his video, it was the number one video they showed in the hospital, everyone loved it,” MaryBeth said.  

That same year Sam was part of the make a wish program and, like any fifteen year old boy, his wish involved sports.  Sam went to the 2007 pro bowl in Hawaii.  He got to spend a week in Hawaii, went to practices leading up to the pro bowl, went to a luau, and got to meet many of the players.  “I told Payton Manning I thought he was the best quarterback and he laughed at me because I was in my Steelers jersey and told me I better not let Ben hear me say that,” said Sam.  He said the experience was one of the best experiences he has ever had and that it made him respect some players more but it also made him lose respect for one player.  Terell Owens walked right by all the make a wish kids and wouldn't even look at them.  At the time he was one of Sam’s favorite players but after that Sam did not like him as a player or person anymore.  Sam went on for the next few years in a daze because of his medicine but without any complications from the seizures.  When he was 18, right before Sam’s graduation he had the final of three perfect EEGs, which proved the Cleveland Clinic to be right about his seizures being child benign.  They took Sam off of medication at a fast pace starting in April and he was completely off medicine by June.  Sam went on his senior trip and said he was not worried about just being off medicine, he just wanted to go to Florida. He had no complications on the trip and has been seizure free since that time.  Sam is open about talking about his seizures and said that they were a crucial part of who he is as a person.  He says he doesn't worry about having seizures at this time of his life.  “I know that everything will work out, so I'm fine,” he said.  Sam is an excellent student at Slippery Rock University and is on the inline hockey team and also participates in several intramural sports.  He is happy with where his life is and thinks that he is a stronger person because of his past.