Mountain Brook native helps fight epilepsy

Pediatric neurologist Katy Lalor is very active in treatment and advocacy for people with epilepsy

November is National Epilepsy Awareness Month, an annual event that teaches people more about the causes and symptoms of epilepsy.

This educational effort is critical because epilepsy is one of the most common neurological diseases.

One in 10 people will have a seizure, and one in 26 people will be diagnosed with epilepsy, at some point in their lives, according to Epilepsy Foundation Alabama.

Yet epilepsy is also one of the least understood neurological diseases and receives far less funding for research than other brain disorders, the foundation says.

To help increase awareness of the disease, Epilepsy Foundation Alabama will hold its annual Walk to End Epilepsy on Saturday, Nov. 6, at 10 a.m. at Railroad Park downtown.

Organizers also hope to raise $100,000 at the event.

The money will fund advocacy to ensure quality healthcare options for people living with seizures, research for better treatments and cures, services for people living with epilepsy and training on proper seizure recognition and first aid.

“With each step and fundraising dollar, we’re closer to helping people with epilepsy be free from epilepsy and free from fear of the next seizure,” said Sara Franklin, executive director of community engagement and partnerships for the foundation.

The Walk to End Epilepsy, in addition to raising money and awareness, has another important purpose, said Dr. Katy Lalor,  a Mountain Brook native and a pediatric neurologist, or epileptologist, at Children’s of Alabama.

“It brings together a community of people with epilepsy and those who support them,” she said. “It is important for people with epilepsy to know that they are not alone as it can be a very isolating disease.

“Having epilepsy, especially as an adult, can be very challenging and lonely,” she said. “Epilepsy is also highly associated with depression and/or anxiety.”

Not only will Lalor will participate in the walk, she has recently become a big part of the ongoing efforts to fight epilepsy in Birmingham, Franklin said.

Lalor has become involved with the Epilepsy Foundation Alabama Professional Advisory Board.

She’s a member of the Kids Crew Leadership Council at Epilepsy Foundation America.

She was also instrumental in helping get a bill passed in the Alabama Legislature this past spring called the Seizure Safe Schools Act.

This involvement is not surprising, since Lalor has a profound personal connection to the issue.

She was diagnosed with childhood absence epilepsy by a neurologist at Children’s of Alabama while in the fourth grade at Crestline Elementary.

This diagnosis came after her teacher recognized her absence, or staring, seizures, Lalor said.

Fortunately, her seizures were controlled with medication after her doctor found the right one.

“As long as I took my meds, my epilepsy did not affect my day-to-day life,” Lalor said. “However, it was constantly on my mind that I could have a seizure, which caused a lot of anxiety.”

Lalor believes that one of the hardest things about epilepsy is its unpredictability.

“As a child I recall trying to explain my seizures to peers and adults with little success,” she said. “it was hard to get others to understand.”

Lalor was fortunate to have a kind of epilepsy that she grew out of by her teens, and she no longer needed medication after that time.

“The experience did shape the rest of my life in many ways, probably the most significant being that it inspired me to become a pediatric neurologist,” she said.

Lalor grew up in Crestline, where her parents still live, and graduated from Mountain Brook High School in 2005,

She went to college at Vanderbilt, medical school at South Alabama and also did her residency and fellowship at Vanderbilt.

Lalor has been working at Children’s of Alabama for a little over two years and now lives in the Forest Park community in Birmingham.

At Children’s, Lalor sees patients in the clinic and the hospital, including the Epilepsy Monitoring Unit.

With a colleague, Lalor also runs the Epilepsy Transition Program, which helps smooth the transition as young adults move from pediatric neurologic care to the adult healthcare system.

It is gratifying to be involved with Epilepsy Foundation Alabama, Lalor said.

“Advocacy is a big passion of mine because of the stigma I experienced as a patient with epilepsy and what I see my patients go through now,” she said. “Educating more people about seizures and seizure first-aid improves both the lives of people with epilepsy as well as their safety.”

The foundation does “great work in our state with education and advocacy on a political level,” Lalor said.

The Kids Crew Program provides children — with and without epilepsy — with education about seizures, a community of kids who have gone through what they are going through, and opportunities to advocate for themselves, she said.

The Seizure Safe Schools Act is important because “children with disabilities — and their parents — should be able to feel that school is an extension of their home with regards to safety and accessibility,” Lalor said.

And there are still many districts in Alabama in which multiple schools share only one nurse, Lalor said.

The Seizure Safe Schools Act allows for the training of other school personnel, such as teachers, bus drivers and coaches, to give seizure first aid and administer rescue medications, Lalor said.

Lalor also wants to help increase public awareness and understanding of epilepsy.

“I suppose it can be obvious to the outside world sometimes, but many times it is more of a hidden disability,” she said.

“I also think many people don’t realize that there are a great many types of seizures and they can often be very subtle,” Lalor said. “Seizures have an extremely broad range of causes with some people having other associated neurologic challenges while others just have seizures.

“Epilepsy in the real world looks very different from the way it has been depicted in the media,” Lalor said.

For more information about Epilepsy Foundation Alabama, go to epilepsyalabama.org.

To sign up for the walk on Nov. 6, go to walktoendepilepsy.org/birmingham.