By Leonard E. Colvin
Chief Reporter
New Journal and Guide
In 1979, while attending Virginia Wesleyan College, Lowell G. Evans was playing in a pick up basketball game when he suddenly became dizzy and passed out. The next thing he knew, paramedics were standing around him. “They said I may have had an epileptic seizure,” said Evans. “Epileptic? I told them I did not smoke that stuff. I did not know what they were talking about.” At the hospital’s emergency room, doctors discovered a scar at the back of his head which they said may have contributed to the spell.
“They told me that the scar may have been caused by an injury and may have caused previous episodes of epilepsy. I did not think I had any,” said Evans, who is now 51 and living In Virginia Beach. “I did not know what epilepsy was. I did not know how it would change my life. But since then, I discovered with treatments meds, I had nothing to fear and I am living a normal life.”
While he was growing up in rural Gloucester County Virginia, Lowell G. Evans had never heard of epilepsy, let alone recognized any signs that he may have had the disease. He does recall people who had “spells” who fell to the ground in spasms. He recalled adults saying they were caused by demons embedded in the person’s soul seeking to control it.
Until scientists unraveled the causes of epilepsy, people thought it was triggered by full moon or demons. There are various forms of epilepsy and varied reasons attribured to why mother nature imposes it on the lives of over three million people in the United States and a quarter of a million African Americans. The medical experts say that brain chemistry, hereditary, physical injury, prenatal injuries, and exposure to chemicals and other environmental poisons are on the list for causing epilepsy.
Today, Evans is an advocate to educate on the condition. He has written “The Village,” a 228-page book which is part biography and part social commentary and instructional guide on the disease. “When I first told people that I had epilepsy, most of the reactions were negative and most of the views people had were negative,” said Evans. “It takes a village to raise a child; it also takes a village to change the negative views toward epilepsy.” Evans said that society’s ignorance about epilepsy can be just as detrimental as the disease itself. He noted that people display symptoms of the disease differently, and it may be interpreted as alcoholism, drug addiction, psychosis or other physically debilitating ailments
One good example he offers is a story about Kevin. “Kevin was a highly successful African American man. One day, a couple, who were his neighbors and knew his family, saw him experiencing a seizure out in public and they thought he was an alcoholic or on drugs because he was lying out in the street. From that point on they decided not to have anything to do with him socially,” said Evans. “Well, the two sons of that couple, who played with Kevin’s children, witnessed him having a more severe epileptic seizure while they were at his house playing with his kids,” said Evans. “At that point, the two sons were educated. It was not substance abuse or insanity. It was not something which was contagious.”
Evans says epilepsy does not deter people from acquiring careers and achieving their life dreams. He said that actor and activist Danny Glover is epileptic. He joins President Theodore Roosevelt, Author Charles Dickens (writer of the Christmas Carol), NBA player Bobby Jones, Alexander the Great, and Julius Caesar, among others, known to suffer from the disease. After he graduated from college in 1983, Evans was recruited by the Safeway Corporation as a manager, a job he worked for 15 years. He did operational analysis for Bank of America for 10 years; then he went into retail sales. Now he is promoting his book and advocating and educating people about epilepsy.
Evans said there are three degrees of epileptic seizures from mild to severe. All are the result of “bio-electric impulses not fully being transmitted through the brain to make the body function properly for brief periods of time,” he explained. Evans said that an individual may experience an “aura” which is a warning sign “when you feel a light-headed feeling, an unbalance.” “You are walking and you want to move your arms and you can’t,” said Evans. ”When I have an aura, it indicates that the level of medicine I take to deter epilepsy is low or not at the proper levels. It does not always mean that a seizure will occur.” Sometimes the person having the seizure goes into a kind of altered state for a short period of time. The person may looked dazed or stare into space. In such a case, it is enough to stay by the person and wait for the seizure to pass. The most important thing is to be calm.
Evans said epileptic seizures can be triggered by varying factors, including certain smells or flashes of light. He is prescribed two different medications to control the onset of seizures. Evans said that he has been talking to owners of the Messenger Films about doing a movie based on his book, detailing the story of man who is epileptic and goes on a quest to educate the village with words about the disease.
