My name is Dan Canfield and I am a 48-year old man from Torrington, CT. I am the youngest of 10 children and my parents are the late Ethel Riley and Owen Canfield.

I consider myself to be a very fortunate man and for that reason, I have tried to not let the uncertainties that epilepsy brings to my life effect me too much. From the time I was a kid, I have lived a pretty normal kind of life. I went to school, played sports, worked a part-time job and even had my drivers’ license for a few years.

As my seizures began occuring more frequently,I visited a neurologist and had all the tests that would allow doctors find what part(s) of my brain that the seizures were coming from, tests that would eventually lead to me having my first seizure-related operation at the Boston Children’s Hospital. It didn’t work.

Even so, I kept living my life because I had considerable support from family and friends. Plus, it would not have made my life any better had I just started whining and feeling sorry for myself.

In fact, I moved to Arizona for a few years after good friend who was working out there, passed the idea by me… and it ended up being a blessing. I met my wife out there and we  have a bright and talented acting and singing son named Eric.

My most recent operation was performed about a year and a half ago at the Yale-New Haven hospital, a procedure in which a device known as a neuropacemaker was implanted into my brain.

So far, I have found the neuropacemaker to be a big help to me. Though I still seize-no surprise there-I am able to go longer periods of time without seizing and I no longer have auras. An aura is kind of strangely powerful cycle that would start my seizures for many a year.

And so, here I am today a happy, content guy who, believe it or not considers himself  to lucky enough to still be able to smile more often than not.My hope is that others with this strange disorder can find a way or a reason to laugh a little each and every day.