In my 9th month I began to worry, I was already under an enormous amount of stress, and then my grandfather died. Three weeks later my whole life changed. On the morning of September 9th,1986, I woke up to the worse back pain I had felt in my life. After telling my mother she took me to the hospital 30 miles away. I was checked and sent home. The doctor said that it wasn't time yet. We returned home, but as the day progressed the pain became more severe and again my mother took me to the hospital. I was checked in the ER and sent home. By late evening the pain was so bad that I couldn't sit down in the seat of my mother's car, I knelt down and held on to the seat. When we arrived at the hospital this time, instead of my mother going to the ER, she took me upstairs to labor and delivery. She didn't stop at the doors; she went right through them. She explained my symtoms to the doctor. He told her to wait outside and he would be out in a moment to let her know what was happening. In just a few moments he came out and told her he didn't know if he could save me or my child. I had developed preeclampsia and was in serious condition. I was given an emergency cesarean, and my son was born at 8:53 p.m. By God's grace and mercy and my wonderful mother we are both alive today.

What happened was, my blood pressure went up so high that I went into preeclampsia. Although we didn't know it at the time, as a result of the preeclampsia, a nerve on my brain was damaged and 3 weeks after my sons birth I had my first seizure. It took a long time to find out what was happening, but in1990 after a numerous amount of tests, I was diagnosed with epilepsy. In December of 1999 I had brain surgery to try and repair the damage, and although it slowed down the seizures, I am still living with epilepsy. I was able to draw disability from 1990 until 1994, but after I remarried it was cut off. I don't drive, but voc-rehab found me a job as a custodian. I work 10 hrs a week and I have a bring home pay of about $64 a week. It had been extremely hard. Preeclampsia not only changed me, but it changed my entire life.