Rick O’Shea has opened up about suffering from epilepsy.
The RTE Gold presenter revealed that he was diagnosed as a teen after a series of seizures.
“I had my first seizure when I was 16 at Christmas at home so that makes it 30 years this coming December,” he told VIP Magazine.
“Even thinking about it now that’s an extraordinarily long time ago… There was no history if it in my family and we had no idea what it was really about until we talked to professionals. They don’t actually diagnose you until you’ve had a couple so that was a few months later.”
The radio DJ added that he choses not to be fearful of his condition as it would only impact on his day-to-day life.
“I don’t really have any fears about it. I don’t see the point. Yes, technically I could have a seizure at any point – at the top of a flight of stairs, on a train platform, in the sea, but if I allowed the fear of something like that to happen to me I’d never live. Thanks to the medication I take every day my last seizure was 9 years ago. I’ll take those odds,” he adds: “I’ve injured myself once, slightly, in 30 years.”
The 45-year-old added that there are a number of misconceptions when it comes to those who have epilepsy, from abilities to treatment.
“There are loads of misconceptions, where do I start? People have in the past thought that it’s a mental illness, that people with epilepsy can’t work, that you have to put something in our mouths if you see someone having a seizure (don’t! Put us in the recovery position and wait for us to some around).”
Rick is a longtime patron of Epilepsy Ireland and explains that education and treatment have come alongway since he was first diagnosed.
“My advice would mainly be that you will be in a completely different situation to even me three decades ago. Treatment and awareness have moved on hugely and it’s much more positive situation that it was even ten years ago,” he said.
Today is Purple Day, an international day for epilepsy awareness, and Rick explains how you can get involved.
“All across the world people are wearing purple, showing their pictures on social media using #PurpleDay and talking about the condition, there are even buildings in Ireland turning purple for the day. You can even make a text donation by texting “Epilepsy” to 50300 and donating €2 to Epilepsy Ireland.”