Rebekkah Bolt

Age: 14
Grade: 8
Market: Ashland, Kentucky

Rebekkah Bolt is an intelligent and sensitive young woman who went from being a straight-A student to being an A-and-B student who sometimes gets Cs in Algebra and in classes with a lot of technical terms she has to memorize. This is because of her self-esteem and memory issues, both of which stem from her epilepsy, her medications, and the way people react to her having epilepsy.

“I wish people knew what we go through that they don’t have to,” Rebekkah said. “I think then they might show some compassion and stop teasing me and other people who have epilepsy so much.”

Rebekkah’s a former Girl Scout. She also volunteers frequently at nursing homes and performs a lot of other community services to help other people. She’s had a variety of different seizure types, including both generalized tonic-clonic seizures and absence seizures.

“Sometimes I’m just barely holding onto happiness,” Rebekkah said, “and then someone says something that’s hurtful. It doesn’t matter whether or not they deliberately meant to hurt me, I shatter anyway.”