After 25 years of experiencing seizures as a consequence of his epilepsy, an operation to stop them has changed Rob Anderson’s life.
Rob lived with status epilepticus, which involves a seizure that lasts longer than five minutes, or having seizure after seizure without returning to a normal level of consciousness between episodes.
The severity of his epilepsy meant he has had to endure periods in intensive care.
But in April last year, Rob underwent a temporal lobectomy, following two years of investigations at The Walton Centre to locate the area of the brain where his seizures started.
Happily, Rob has had no more seizures since the operation, and has lived his first year seizure-free.
“The Walton Centre team made absolutely sure the operation was the best course of action for me and my epilepsy,” said Rob, 47, from Warrington.
“For the last two decades or so I’ve been working with them to bring my seizures under control. I experienced partial complex seizures and these have landed me in hospital a couple of times.
“At one point I was in intensive care because I couldn’t stop having seizures.
“I had to give up my driving licence ten years ago, which was incredibly hard, but the potential of having a seizure while driving was too risky.”
Following investigations in the pioneering Walton Centre, Rob got the go-ahead for the operation.
“These investigations meant that I had to stay on one of the wards several times so that they could monitor me and any seizures that I experienced,” he remembered.
“The anticipation is a little stressful, but the clinical team around me were so attentive and reassuring. Only by going through these investigations could The Walton Centre team determine where my seizures started so we could take the next step.
“Since the operation the physical and, just as importantly, the mental recovery has been difficult, but this surgery has given me such hope for the future. What The Walton Centre has done and continues to do for me is phenomenal.”
To mark Rob’s recovery, he and his wife Kate are walking from The Walton Centre to Warrington to raise money for the hospital’s charity.
Kate said: “With everything Rob has been through and the support that The Walton Centre has given him over the years, we just had to start fundraising.
“Epilepsy has had a massive impact on our lives and I think some people don’t understand that, because it is an invisible condition.
“Sometimes it felt hopeless, but The Walton Centre was always there. We feel incredibly lucky that we have this specialist hospital in our region and we had to celebrate that.”
Rob added: “We wanted to do our bit to say thank you and we’ve been amazed with all the support we’ve had so far, we can’t thank everyone enough.”
To support Rob and Kate’s fundraiser, go to: https://www.thewaltoncentrecharity.org/fundraisers/walton-centre-to-warrington-walk.
