Epi-Star "Jackie"        and  Hu-Mom, Lorraine     by Dorothy Wills-Raftery      Lorraine Trapani and her Epi-dog “Jackie” are a pretty amazing pair. To begin this story, we are going back to when Lorraine was 16 years old, and she was diagnosed with Idiopathic Epilepsy and “had generalized tonic-clonic seizures for years.” Fortunately, she adds, “I’ve been seizure free for about 20 years (knock on wood.)”   Lorraine, who works for IBM, had a very personal family situation start her on the path to Guiding Eyes for the Blind . In an IBM article she wrote titled, “Miracle on Four Feet,” Lorraine explains how after her husband, Michael, who was also an IBM employee “suffered a stroke during surgery which diagnosed pancreatic cancer. As a result of the stroke, Michael lost half of his vision in each eye, and I became his guide as we fought the cancer which would eventually take his life… the experi...

   Epi-Star, Gibbs       by Dorothy Wills-Raftery     It’s time for another FiveSibes #LiveGibStrong National Epilepsy Awareness Month Epi-Star Feature! I’m so happy to introduce everyone to Gibbs…yes, another amazing “Gib” but with two “b”s, who is also an Epi-dog. This “Gibbs” is a beautiful Labradoodle (his mom is a Labradoodle and his dad is a Poodle), and he and his mom, Tracy Smith, head up the GIBBS-erish...Making Sense of Canine Epilepsy, a fairly new Canine Epilepsy Facebook group.   Gibbs’ story is a familiar and frightening story many of Epi-dog families and caregivers can certainly relate to. Says Tracy, “It started with a noise that was uncharacteristic in our home. Upon my investigation, I walked into our living room to find Gibbs convulsing on the floor.   He had fallen off the couch and was stuck between the coffee table and couch.   I thought he was dying.   Here, enters, epilepsy and o...