Bryan Griffin

Year diagnosed: 1992
Type of epilepsy: Generalized tonic-clonic seizures
Lives for: Biking

Bryan Griffin's life has undergone some pretty dramatic changes lately. This past summer, he logged 2,000 miles on his bicycle and lost 70 pounds. He returned to his former job at a tractor plant – and now even drives finished vehicles out of the factory. For the first time, Griffin's wife, Stacey, feels at ease when he's alone with their three children – Ashley, 6, Amber, 8, and Jessica, 10. And Griffin really enjoys spending time with his family. "Every day I hug them and tell them that I love them," says the Kansas native.

All of this has been possible because after almost a decade of living with epilepsy – and, often as not, refusing to deal with its implications – Griffin finally took control of his life. Although he began having seizures in his early twenties, as a result of a car accident when he was 16, he not only continued to drive but also spent every weekend drag racing a 1968 Firebird he had rebuilt. Upon leaving the track one night, Griffin blacked out during a major seizure and totaled his month-old truck. He was only two days shy of his 30th birthday. "I was in total denial about my seizures; I was convinced that if I didn't acknowledge them, they'd go away," says Griffin. "But that crash finally woke me up."

Griffin put away the keys to his Firebird, gave up drinking alcohol and told his boss the risk of having a seizure meant it wasn't safe for him to continue working on the assembly line making tractors. He also vowed to find a doctor who wouldn't merely increase the dose of his medications and tell him that this was as good as it was going to get. Says Griffin, "I decided my goal was zero seizures. I just believed more could be done."

Three neurologists later, Griffin found an epileptologist who recommended he undergo a left temporal lobectomy, a surgery that removes a portion of the brain. Although his family was extremely nervous, Griffin had no doubt it would succeed. "My epileptologist told me the outcome of surgery depends as much on the patient's outlook as on the skill of the neurosurgeon, so I opted for a positive attitude," he says. Almost two years after the first surgery however, Griffin had a seizure – a major letdown – as his doctor tried to wean him off anti-epileptic drugs. Griffin ultimately made peace with his need for medication, and he recently celebrated three years of being seizure free. These days, he credits epilepsy with getting his priorities straight. "Epilepsy has actually made me a better person," he says.

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