Epilepsy

In the 15 years she has battled epilepsy, Erinn Farver has tried countless medications and even explored the possibility of a brain operation. But the drugs have done little but make her sleepy, and her seizures are not the type that disappear with surgery.Now, she enters the new year hoping that the latest innovation in epilepsy therapy -- an electronic brain stimulater -- will make the difference. On Dec. 15, surgeons at the University of Maryland Medical Center made her the first patient in the state to receive the device, which looks like a hockey puck and is inserted in the chest just beneath the collarbone.

A Maryland biotechnology company said yesterday that the Food and Drug Administration has given it tacit approval to market its new drug to treat epilepsy in the United States, one of the first new drugs to be approved for the disease in 15 years.Final regulatory approval for the drug known as Carbatrol rests on Rockville-based Shire Laboratories Inc.'s meeting certain manufacturing requirements for the drug.Krystyna Belendiuk, senior vice president for business development at Shire Laboratories -- known as Pharmavene, Inc. until it was bought recently by Shire Pharmaceuticals of Andover, England -- said the company "fully expects to meet the FDA's requests."

Doesn't help to keep epilepsy a secretIn her June 8 article, "What's wrong with me?," Sun health reporter Diana K. Sugg described what it was like to have not-yet-diagnosed epilepsy. ''I also learned to keep it a secret,'' she said.As is often the case, the age-old enemy of epilepsy -- reluctance of people to openly associate themselves with the disorder for fear of discrimination -- still exists.For that reason, epilepsy has lacked much of the public support and awareness given to other health disorders.

Dr. J. Kiffin Penry, 66, an international leader in the fight against epilepsy, died Sunday of diabetes in Winston-Salem, N.C.He is noted for his work describing epileptic seizures and syndromes in children, as well as for developing new anti-epileptic drug therapies that have benefited children worldwide.Nearly 2,500 physicians who treat epilepsy went to Winston-Salem for Dr. Penry's programs since they began in November 1986.Dante Giacosa, 91, the automotive designer of several Fiat models, including the popular 500, died Sunday in Turin, Italy.

Fourth-grader Ashley Zaleski of Broadneck Elementary School has won the 1995 Epilepsy Prevention/Bicycle Poster Contest sponsored by the Epilepsy Association of Maryland.The theme of Ashley's poster is "Wheels and Helmets Go Together." She competed against 426 fourth-graders from 25 Maryland schools.Ashley will receive a bicycle helmet at a 9 a.m. ceremony Tuesday in her class. The association staff also will perform a Kids on the Block puppet show that explains epilepsy to children.The association has reproduced Ashley's poster into bookmarks and larger posters, which will be distributed to state legislators, schools and libraries.

Why did Vincent van Gogh slice off a portion of one of his ears and disrobe in an art gallery among other strange behaviors? Of course, no one knows for certain, but there are a number of competing theories, including alcoholism, chemical poisoning, glaucoma, manic-depression, schizophrenia, sunstroke, syphilis and -- according to Eve LaPlante -- epilepsy. Did whatever ailed van Gogh affect his art? On that point, there appears to be unanimity that it did.Eve LaPlante, a free-lance magazine writer, enters this discussion with her own affirmative, sorting out the symptoms in van Gogh as well as Alfred Lord Tennyson, Gustave Flaubert, Fyodor Dostoevski, Lewis Carroll, Jonathan Swift and others (both well-known and not)

A new epilepsy drug, the first approved in 15 years, promises to control seizures without the harsh side effects common with more traditional treatment.Felbatol was approved last week by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to prevent epileptic seizures in people 14 and older, or in the 10 percent of children with epilepsy who have seizures from a condition called Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, which are difficult to treat.But the drug is likely to be used, as many drugs are, for other patients, including younger children or people with mild seizures.

THE PUGILIST AT RESTThom JonesLittle, Brown! 240 pages, $18.95Thom Jones has been a soldier, a boxer, an advertising writer and a janitor. "The Pugilist at Rest," the first book by this Washington state writer, is an exciting collection of lean, hard-hitting, short fiction about Marines, boxers and other men and women at grips with war, sex and disease.In the title story, a decorated Vietnam veteran recalls his first battle. Did his slaughtered best friend do all the work and leave him the glory?

The Epilepsy Association of Maryland Inc. honored Barbara J. Cysyk of Johns Hopkins Hospital and Michael T. Bornemann of East Baltimore Resources with the EAM's 1991 Outstanding Public Education Volunteer award for their efforts in educating the public about epilepsy.*At a recent Ladies Auxiliary VFW convention in Ocean City, Sandi Gosnell was voted guard, Bertha Fisher was named safety chairman and Betty Fisk was named chief of staff. All are members of Yingling Ridgley Auxiliary 7472 in Ellicott City.

Santa Claus will make it to the home of John and Geraldine Swann and their three children this Christmas, but it will be a very pragmatic Santa.Instead of leaving Nintendo games and Barbie dream houses and super Lego sets and school jackets, he mostly will be placing socks and pajamas and underwear under the Christmas tree of the family's Highlandtown home."

Grace Rolle remembers the crash and the silence that followed. "You've heard of a mother's intuition?" she asked recently. "I heard a loud noise, and it sounded like somebody fell. After about two minutes, I thought that it didn't sound right. When I went downstairs to the garage, the papers were strewn everywhere." Then she saw her son, Samari, on the ground, conscious but dazed. "His lip was busted, his tongue was messed up and his neck was swollen," she said. "They have sharp, concrete stairs.

For eight weeks, Samari Rolle kept his condition a secret. "I didn't know if I could play, if I would be all right or anything," the Ravens veteran cornerback said. "It was very scary." But yesterday Rolle disclosed that he has epilepsy, a neurological condition that affects the nervous system and can cause seizures. He decided to publicly talk about his epilepsy "because it's under control now. Right now, I'm not scared." He has had three seizures this season, which have kept him out of six games.

Bonnie has a dream for her three daughters. The problem is paying for it. One daughter is a sophomore at a four-year state university. Another is a freshman at a community college. And the third is a senior in high school. But the single parent from Reisterstown says she's not just dealing with school costs. One daughter has epilepsy and the other two have learning disabilities. Medical bills eat up a big chunk of Bonnie's $70,000 annual income. And that's not factored in when it comes to financial aid, she says.

Alison Marie Hylan, whose struggle with epilepsy and determination to have a normal life became an inspiration to others, died Sunday at Drexel University in Philadelphia after a seizure. She was 18. Miss Hylan, a freshman screenwriting student, was born in Annapolis. She was raised in Pasadena and Arnold, where she moved with her family in 2000. "She started writing as a child, and when she was older she'd enter poetry contests and get her things published," said her mother, Jan E. Hylan, a second-grade teacher at Richard Henry Lee Elementary School in Glen Burnie.

Chelsea Henrie first knew something was wrong when, at age 16, she poured cereal into her shoe. "I also stuck my hand in the toaster once," recalls Henrie, now 20 and a student at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque. "That was the worst thing that happened." Like 2.8 million other Americans, Chelsea Henrie has epilepsy, a disorder characterized by seizures, or sudden electrical storms, in the brain. Though rarely fatal unless a seizure is severe and prolonged, or occurs while a person is swimming or driving, epilepsy can be a life-wrecker.

On Wednesday, August 20, 2003, SIDNEY GUMENICK. Loving brother of Eugene Gumenick, Michael Gumenick and Jacki Gimbel, devoted brother-in-law of Christine Bass and David Gimbel. Beloved uncle of Brian Gumenick, Matthew Gumenick, Jeffrey and Kelly Lasov, Daniel Gumenick and Jessica Gumenick. Services at SOL LEVINSON & BROS., INC., 8900 Reisterstown Road, at Mt. Wilson Lane, on Friday, August 22 11A.M. Interment Dulaney Valley Memorial Gardens, Timonium, MD. Please omit flowers. Contributions in his memory may be directed to The Epilepsy Association of Maryland, 5438 York Rd. (21212)

On August 19, 2003 ROBERT LEE WILLOUGHBY, JR., beloved son of Robert L. Willoughby, Sr. and the late Blanche E. Goldsmith; and dear brother of Christopher, Nicole and Samantha Willoughby and Theresa Walden. A funeral service will be held at the family owned Evans Chapel of Memories-Parkville on Saturday 11 A.M. Visiting Friday 3 to 5 and 7 to 9 P.M. In lieu of flowers Robert's family would be grateful if a contribution was made in his name to the Epilepsy Association of Maryland, 300 East Joppa Road, Suite 1103, Towson, MD 21286-3018.

A 43-year-old Severn man died yesterday after being found on the side of a road in Glen Burnie, unconscious and pinned beneath his Honda motor scooter, according to county police. David Allan Hentschel of the 7700 block of Twin Oaks Road was pronounced dead at North Arundel Hospital after being found in a small embankment off Grover Road near New Cut Road about 1:40 a.m., police said. Police said that Hentschel had suffered no obvious physical injury. The scooter also was undamaged. His body was taken to the state medical examiner's office for an autopsy.

It was the middle of the night when Constance Hoyt awakened to find her husband, John, making anguished sounds while his arms and legs jerked around. The couple was living in Asuncion, Paraguay, where they worked in a Christian academy, and Constance Hoyt was sure she was losing her husband. Hours later, at a hospital, doctors concluded he had suffered a heart attack. A pacemaker was implanted. It was not until months later, after two more such episodes, that the Hoyts were referred to Dr. R. Eugene Ramsay at the University of Miami and learned that Hoyt, a retired pastor, had epilepsy.

Alan Garfinkle, a lawyer whose zest for life lifted the spirits of his friends and relatives and who was active in charitable causes, died of a heart attack Saturday while visiting family in Nashville, Tenn. He was 58 and lived in the Guilford neighborhood of Baltimore. "He was a super human being - my hero," said his wife of 28 years, the former Loretta Portera. "He was generous and giving. He was my soul mate." Mr. Garfinkle was born and raised in Nashville. He earned his law degree from Mount Vernon law school, which later merged with the University of Baltimore law school.