Jane Scott Janzer

Age: 12
Grade: 6
Market: Boise, Idaho

Jane Janzer has been a different child since her right temporal lobe surgery last year. She’s had epilepsy since she was five, and was the first patient when the St. Luke’s Comprehensive Epilepsy Center in Boise, Idaho, opened in 2005. In just five days, she and her family learned more than they had in the previous five years of testing, doctor’s appointments and multiple therapies.

Regardless of all she was going through, Jane always managed to make people laugh and put smiles on the faces of the medical personnel she came in contact with. Her charm and winning attitude always shone through.

Now, although she is still on medications, Jane’s been seizure-free for eight months and smiles all the time, has a best friend, and is learning how to relax and enjoy life instead of worrying about when she’s going to have her next seizure.

“People need to know kids with epilepsy are just kids,” Jane said. “I wish people knew what to do when someone has a seizure, and I wish more people talked about epilepsy, because then maybe so many people wouldn’t be afraid of it. If there was one thing I could do, it would be to invent something to make seizures go away forever for everyone, because I could help so many people with that.”