On the 3rd October 2021 I will be running the London marathon in memory of my late girlfriend Amelia Roberts who devastatingly passed away at the age of 21, 5 days before Christmas in 2018. I am raising money for the Epilepsy Society, who are a group of amazing people who supported Mia as she battled her Epilepsy, and are conducting ground breaking research that will help them understand and better control epilepsy in the future. 

Please read my story and donate as little or as much as you can, however much can be donated will be greatly appreciated. 

I studied at Portsmouth University, and met Mia at the start of my second year when she joined our lacrosse club in her first year of university. When first joining our club, she was put into the care of her lacrosse parents, myself and Livie White. We became a close group, looking after each other during the year when we needed support with whatever was troubling us. Mia explained to us early on that she suffered from epilepsy which meant she had a ''dodgy bonce'' and that sometimes she couldn't help it if she started chatting ''bollocks''. Her words, not mine. 

By the time June came around the following year, Mia and I had started dating. I was lucky enough to spend 18 months as Mias' boyfriend, and I was thankful every day that she had chosen to be with me. Always a continuously supportive girlfriend, on the lacrosse pitch she would be cheering me on from the side-lines as my biggest fan (metaphorically), during my final year of university always convincing me that I could do it when I doubted myself. I would never have achieved as highly as I did without her in my life, she was my rock, and I was hers and that is one of the biggest things I miss since she has been gone.

Since Mia was 16 she had suffered from Petit Mal seizures, a form of epilepsy that would cause her to become vacant, talk incoherently and lose perception of her surroundings. Over the space of 5 years, she experienced 830 absence seizures, I think I must have experienced Mia having over 100 Petit Mal seizures over the space of the just under 2 and half years I knew her. There never seemed to be anything specifically that caused Mia to have her seizures, not flashing lights, or smells, or specific time of day, the only thing that could cause them to happen more often was when she was tired. She was prescribed medication to help try and control her Epilepsy, with no avail, she trialled multiple different drugs, in multiple different combinations, nothing seemed to help. The hardest thing to see was how tired Mia would become from her medication, she would regularly fall asleep in the library whilst typing, would go to bed early and wake up late still knackered. Every day she would come home from her lectures and launch herself into the biggest hug you could imagine, something I loved at the time and miss immensely. We always talked about how we would beat her epilepsy together, whether she needed surgery, no matter what it took, I was going to be there every step of the way.

During our time together, Mia began to experience Tonic Clonic seizures. During these seizures, she would fall unconscious and convulse for around 2-3 minutes, which felt like a life-time for me. The first time it happened in our kitchen, I managed to catch her as she collapsed, she was lucky to not hurt herself severely as she had a lit hob behind her and a knife in her hand. I experienced Mia have 5 tonic clonic seizures, she had 10 in total, each one being worse than the one before. I found Mia unconscious on the floor in our bedroom after the noise of her collapsing to the floor had stirred me from my sleep. I caught her over her breakfast bar at her family home as she collapsed, Mia also collapsed twice in the middle of the street  during conversations with myself and friends, lucky that on both occasions someone was able to catch her. On another occasion she broke her jaw at her friend’s house when she collapsed alone in the bathroom. When this all happened, I was terrified for her, I was scared that something worse was going to happen.

December 2018, Mia and I had started planning our travels that we were going to embark on in September the following year after we had finished our respective degrees. Deciding that all we wanted to do was hire campervans in New Zealand and Canada and just see as much of the country’s beautiful scenery as possible, the plan was perfect for me, I was going to be spending time with my favourite person. We would be moving back to our hometowns for Christmas, 15^th December rolled around and we said our goodbyes. Pouring rain in Portsmouth, hardly romantic, I only gave her a quick kiss and a hug. A text from Mia an hour later ‘’I’m going to miss you, I love you’’, I already couldn’t wait to see her after Christmas.

Unfortunately, I never did get to see her again.

On the 20^th December, Mia experienced a fatal seizure whilst having a bath at her family home. I remember receiving the call like it was yesterday, I genuinely thought my heart had been crushed. Mia had planned out our future together, children’s names, where we were going to live, it never scared me as I was as invested in our relationship as she was. In one brief moment, all of that had disappeared. Life is incredibly cruel.

Mias’ fatal seizure is known as sudden unexpected death in epilepsy (SUDEP), and it takes the life of 1 in 1,000 people that suffer from epilepsy. Research into SUDEP is the key focus of the Epilepsy Society, where they are attempting to understand the mechanisms behind it, who is at the greatest risk and how it can be prevented. The money that I am hoping to raise will go directly towards to the Epilepsy Society and their research into SUDEP.

Before Mia passed away, she donated her brain for research at the Epilepsy Society Brain and Tissue Bank. This act of generosity and kindness was made in the hope that it could help scientists develop a better sense of Epilepsy and how seizures can be better treated. Although Mia cannot be brought back, so much can still be done to combat such an awful disease that took away one of the most caring and beautiful people I have ever met.

Please donate what you can, as every penny will count towards
research.

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