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Epilepsy's
unpredictability a challenge for local woman
By JEANNIE KEVER, Copyright 2002 Houston Chronicle
The rite of passage came more than 20 years late for Stephanie Sawyer, but that just made it all the sweeter. At the age of 37, Sawyer got her hands on the car keys.
"I'd jump in the car at 4 in the morning and drive to Galveston, just because I could. I'd go running to the window and look out to see if the car was really there.
"I couldn't believe this dream had come true."
After 10 years behind the wheel, Sawyer's bright red car remains a symbol of her liberation.
Surgeons removed Sawyer's right temporal lobe -- a fist-sized piece of the brain that is key to memory -- in June 1992 in an attempt to stop the seizures that had begun in childhood.
It worked, for a while. The seizures returned five years ago, less frequent but more violent.
But by then, Sawyer's new course had been set. Even as her newfound freedom rocked her family, she had become the driver, both in her car and in her life. She was a musician and a teacher.
The full text of this article may be found at The Houston Chronicle.
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