Tyler James Frohriep

Age: 16
Grade: 10
Market: Schoolcraft, Michigan

“My name is Tyler Frohriep. I have had seizures my entire life. I have been through a lot with it as I have been in and out of hospitals.”

If you were to see Tyler Frohriep on the street, you wouldn’t know he has epilepsy, because he looks just like any other fifteen year old. But he’s not. He used to have a hundred seizures a day.

“It’s hard when you’ve been out of school for a week and have to go back,” he says. “It is hard to catch up on homework and with tests and exams.”

He’s been on almost every drug available for epilepsy, and he has several different types of seizures. Several years ago, he even had a seizure that was so bad his parents had to teach him how to walk and talk all over again.

“It’s weird when you have a seizure because I sometimes remember them,” he says.

Tyler’s life has been full of stigma, physical rehabilitation, difficulties with schools, and problems with medical issues, but he still puts up a valiant fight to prove that kids with epilepsy are just kids who have a medical issue—so they should be treated just like other kids.

“People with epilepsy most likely can’t be seen right off the bat, because you cannot always tell who has epilepsy. Anyone can have it. It’s not a disease you can catch, but a lot of people think it is. Please help us find a cure for it.”