Paul Schmidt
Paul with Sara (Paul's Seizure Response Dog) |
Paul is the son of Curt and Debi Schmidt and brother of Brandon, Adam
and his wife Becky, and Jasmine and her husband Mike. He is the uncle of Eric and Juliet.
In 2001, at the age of 15, Paul experienced his first seizure. After extensive testing, it was determined that he was born with a seizure disorder called juvenile myoclonic epilepsy. For the next six years of his life, Paul faced a grueling uphill battle. He saw many experts in the field within the greater Chicagoland area, and tried many medications (and lots of combination of medications) for epilepsy. In December 2007 Paul underwent a promising surgical treatment: he had the Vagus Nerve Stimulator implanted. Yet, as is the case for over 30% of people with epilepsy, Paul’s seizures remained uncontrollable. On Friday, October 17th, 2008, twelve days short of his twenty-second birthday, Paul’s body went into cardiac arrest and his breathing stopped. Two days later he joined the 50,000 Americans who die each year of epilepsy. The cause of Paul’s death was something called SUDEP: sudden unexplained death in epilepsy. In life, Paul was best known – and loved – for his fun-loving, trouble-making, spirited ways. |