For most of his childhood, Uday (18) from Jammu did not know what a seizure-free day felt like. From an early age, seizures gripped his life every single day, sometimes multiple times daily, causing repeated injuries, affecting his development, and eventually forcing him to drop out of school. What should have been years of learning and play were replaced by fear, hospital visits, and exhaustion.What hurt the family most was the certainty with which hope was dismissed.“Everywhere we went, doctors told us there was no solution other than medicines,” Uday’s father says. “They said surgery was not an option. We were told to accept this as lifelong.”Years passed. The seizures did not stop. And hope began to feel dangerous.That changed when the family reached Amrita Hospital, Faridabad.During an outpatient consultation, Dr. Amit Kumar Agarwal, Senior Consultant & Assistant Professor in Neurology, noticed something unsettling—a subtle abnormality on Uday’s MRI that appeared to have been overlooked earlier.“Even in the OPD, we felt there was something in the MRI that did not fit the narrative of ‘no surgical option’,” says Dr. Agarwal. “That moment prompted us to re-evaluate everything.”Uday was admitted for a detailed work-up, including video EEG monitoring and advanced imaging. His case was discussed in a multidisciplinary epilepsy meeting involving neurology, expert MRI radiology, PET scan specialists, and epilepsy surgery expertise.The conclusion was decisive: this was drug-resistant epilepsy, but not untreatable epilepsy.The surgical plan was finalised under Dr. Satyakam Baruah, Senior Consultant & Assistant Professor, a NIMHANS-trained neurosurgeon with extensive experience in epilepsy surgery.“Epilepsy is a disease of neural circuits and networks,” says Dr. Baruah. “When medicines fail, surgery—if the focus is clearly identified—can be completely life-changing. In Uday’s case, the science was clear.”For Uday’s father, the decision came without hesitation.“When they finally told us there was a reason for his seizures and that surgery could help, I did not want to delay even a day,” he says. “We had already lost too many years.”The surgery was performed.Today—two and a half years later—Uday has not experienced a single seizure.He has returned to school. He helps his father at work. His physical and cognitive development has improved steadily. Doctors are now gradually reducing his anti-epileptic medications, a milestone once thought impossible.“This is why awareness is critical,” Dr. Agarwal says. “Drug-resistant epilepsy does not mean the end of treatment. With the right evaluation, epilepsy surgery can give patients their lives back.”The story gains deeper significance as 9 February, the second Monday of February, is observed worldwide as International Epilepsy Day, with this year’s theme: “Turning Stories into Action.”Doctors emphasise that epilepsy is not a mental illness, but a neurological disorder. While medicines remain the first line of treatment, nearly one-third of epilepsy patients do not respond adequately to drugs—and for many of them, surgery can be transformative.For Uday, the difference was not a miracle.It was someone finally looking again.

Original source: in