“My Medical Provider Has Epilepsy Too.”  By: Allison Wright

 

“My Medical Provider Has Epilepsy Too.”  By: Allison Wright

 

“My medical provider has epilepsy too.” This is a statement that I wish I could have said as a person with epilepsy. Even while medical providers can be extremely knowledgeable about seizures, they can never know what it is like to have a seizure unless they experience a seizure themselves. 

 

After years of trying to find the right medication regimen to control seizures, eventually finding the right medication regimen, and a lot of schooling, my patients can confidently say that, “My medical provider has epilepsy too.”

 

I graduated in March 2025, and I passed the Physician Assistant National Certification Exam (PANCE) in April to become a Board Certified Physician Assistant. Because not a lot of neurology clinics are willing to take on training a new graduate for a specialty, and I was determined to pursue epilepsy and all things neurology after graduation, I had to really expand my search for suitable locations to practice in the field. 

To put how badly I wanted to pursue neurology as a new grad into context, I had grown up in Florida. I interviewed and flew out to Oregon more than once (thousands of miles from home), interviewed for a job in Chicago, Illinois, interviewed in Maryland, and if you name a state, I probably applied or interviewed there.   

 

After months of interviewing, I ended up taking a job in Norfolk, Virginia--- a place I never knew existed until May with a start date the day after Labor Day in September. This job allows me to work with and learn from kids who have epilepsy, as well as a range of other neurological conditions. I also aim to give back to the field of neurology, the same community that has poured into me immensely not only as a patient, but as a person with dreams to work alongside the same medical providers who treated them. 

 

How did the move go? Really well! 

 

The job paid for the cost of relocation (thankfully) and while I miss Florida and the community I have through the Epilepsy Services Foundation, I do not miss the hot weather that was a huge trigger for my seizures in the past. I am experiencing my first Fall and loving the changing of the leaves that comes with seasons, but I may change my mind come Winter! The people have been very kind overall, and we live in an area of Norfolk called Ghent where almost everything you need you can walk to (a must for someone with Epilepsy). Best of all, the cat seems to have adjusted beautifully. I am always wondering if she knows she isn’t in Florida anymore, and that she is now a Virginia cat.