Epilepsy
Effective help through research, medicine and care
Every year, many people turn to the two epilepsy centres in Bethel and Berlin-Brandenburg. For them, Bethel is often their final lifeline, having struggled with a long, agonising history of illness.
While Bethel's specialists do everything they can to prevent patients from having further seizures, they also focus on ensuring patients do not suffer from the medication's side effects. If an illness has psychological consequences, patients also receive psychotherapeutic support. Moreover, they receive help with vocational, educational and other social difficulties.
Germany's first rehabilitation clinic for people with epilepsy was established in Bethel for this purpose. There is also a vocational training centre that specialises in supporting and training young people with epilepsy.
A second life
When the seizure struck him, Dominik Schindelar was still a child. The epileptic convulsions shook him for the first time at the age of seven. Today, the 23-year-old is seizure-free. He remembers the day of his operation – 3 March 2015 at the Bethel Clinic Mara – like a second birthday: "It's the day that changed my life for the better."
For many years, new seizures particularly struck at night. "My parents would find me dazed in front of my bed, from which I had fallen," the young man recalls. He has no memory of this himself. "Most of the time, I had a complete mental blackout." Initially, medication helped to limit the seizures. But they didn't stop. In the end, the adolescent also started being struck suddenly during the day, on the football pitch or at the shooting club. The seizures restricted his life. When his friends got their driving licences, he was left out.
Eventually, there were new seizures almost every day. Finally, the young man decided to undergo an examination at Bethel. "An MRI scan revealed a cyst in my head, which was suspected to be the cause of the seizures," he explains. The doctors advised him to undergo surgery. "At some point, I simply decided that I wanted to have brain surgery."
It was the right decision, as Dominik Schindelar is now able to study in Dortmund. And he drives himself to his routine examinations at Bethel, having successfully passed his driving test. "I really relish the fact that I am so much freer."
Help for people with epilepsy
Bethel relies on your support to continue helping people with epilepsy in the future, based on the latest scientific findings and state-of-the-art medical technology. Thanks to your donation, people with epilepsy can be helped effectively.
