2005 Kids Speak Up! Participant Biography

Allyse Szkoda

Age: 8
Grade: 3
East Hampton, Connecticut

Allyse accepts that she has epilepsy and welcomes opportunities to tell people about her experiences living with seizures. One of the ways Allyse educates other children about her epilepsy is by bringing her friend, an epilepsy awareness bear, with her when she talks to other kids. Together, they read books about seizures to her class and answer their questions. They have also educated her brother's Cub Scout den.

For Allyse, not all times are happy. She "missed" last summer due to having 20 to 30 seizures per day and more than 1,500 seizures during the year. Her family used to avoid social outings due to Allyse's uncontrolled seizures. Today, with assistance from two medications and the ketogenic diet, Allyse and her family are able to participate in all life's activities.

Back to 2005 Kids Speak Up! Participants by State...

Read more about Allyse:

• Connecticut Youth Shares Epilepsy Message on Capitol Hill (Newswire, March 28, 2005)
  
• Speaking up, teaching about epilepsy (Middletown Press, April 1, 2005)
• Epilepsy sufferer attends 'Kids Speak Up' (Messenger-Inquirer, April 4, 2005)