Resources:
- WHO: Jake Wartenweiler
- WHAT: Local contact for The Epilepsy Foundation of Southeast Wisconsin
- CONTACT: Jake at (608) 214-3828. The agency also has offices in Janesville (608) 755-1821 and Madison, (608) 442-5555.
MONROE - This coming New Year is special for Jake Wartenweiler of Monroe: He has been free of epileptic seizures for one year.
Last winter, Wartenweiler was recovering from a brain surgery in the area where his seizure originated. He needed six months to recover.
"I slept one month away," he said. "And it took me about three months to get rid of the pain (of the surgery.) The rest of the time I was just so tired."
The surgery has opened up a whole new world for him, he said. His energy is back, too.
Wartenweiler bicycled to Clarno and to Monticello this summer. Next year, he's hoping to get to Orangeville, Freeport or Belleville.
He's also getting a permit to drive.
"The permit I got in high school lasted about two weeks," he said.
Getting to this point hasn't been easy for Wartenweiler. He was diagnosed with epilepsy when he was 2 years old, and in recent years, he was having about two or three seizures per month.
For the past 35 years, his parents, Dave and Jan Wartenweiler, had constant stress and worry about when he would have his next seizure.
"We're just very happy the surgery was a success," said Jan Wartenweiler. "It has changed our lives."
Before his surgery, if emergency personnel called about him having a seizure, one of his parents would have to go get him, wherever he was.
"Every EMT and police officer in Monroe knows our family," his mother said. "At the sound of every ambulance siren or phone ringing, we'd think, 'Oh, gee, it that Jake?"
Yet Wartenweiler said he is glad most of his seizures happened away from home and that the people around him called for emergency help. After coming out of a seizure - lasting from 3 to 5 minutes - he would be disoriented and have difficulty speaking. And later in the day, he would experienced exhaustion.
Having epilepsy is frustrating, Wartenweiler said, and he didn't like relying on people to drive him places all the time.
Wartenweiler said he found encouragement to persevere with normal activities through the Epilepsy Foundation and from the many famous people who live with epilepsy, among them Philadelphia Eagles' cornerback Geoff Pope, Chief Justice John Roberts and WMTV-TV (Ch. 15) anchor Sarah Carlson.
Wartenweiler played hockey in high school, and he has worked since high school doing grounds and building maintenance, mostly at Dick's Piggly Wiggly in Monroe. The company held his job for him while he recovered from his surgery.
Wartenweiler also said he doesn't know how he would have handled the years of seizures if it weren't for the encouragement he received from Monroe Bible Church, where he worships and volunteers at AWANA, a youth group.
Wartenweiler's doctors are encouraged by his progress, he said.
"They expected the surgery to work, because it has a 95 percent chance of succeeding," he added.
Wartenweiler wants to get back into hockey after the Christmas holiday, and he's thinking about going back to school for hospital nursing.
"I can relate well to the people there," he said.
Last winter, Wartenweiler was recovering from a brain surgery in the area where his seizure originated. He needed six months to recover.
"I slept one month away," he said. "And it took me about three months to get rid of the pain (of the surgery.) The rest of the time I was just so tired."
The surgery has opened up a whole new world for him, he said. His energy is back, too.
Wartenweiler bicycled to Clarno and to Monticello this summer. Next year, he's hoping to get to Orangeville, Freeport or Belleville.
He's also getting a permit to drive.
"The permit I got in high school lasted about two weeks," he said.
Getting to this point hasn't been easy for Wartenweiler. He was diagnosed with epilepsy when he was 2 years old, and in recent years, he was having about two or three seizures per month.
For the past 35 years, his parents, Dave and Jan Wartenweiler, had constant stress and worry about when he would have his next seizure.
"We're just very happy the surgery was a success," said Jan Wartenweiler. "It has changed our lives."
Before his surgery, if emergency personnel called about him having a seizure, one of his parents would have to go get him, wherever he was.
"Every EMT and police officer in Monroe knows our family," his mother said. "At the sound of every ambulance siren or phone ringing, we'd think, 'Oh, gee, it that Jake?"
Yet Wartenweiler said he is glad most of his seizures happened away from home and that the people around him called for emergency help. After coming out of a seizure - lasting from 3 to 5 minutes - he would be disoriented and have difficulty speaking. And later in the day, he would experienced exhaustion.
Having epilepsy is frustrating, Wartenweiler said, and he didn't like relying on people to drive him places all the time.
Wartenweiler said he found encouragement to persevere with normal activities through the Epilepsy Foundation and from the many famous people who live with epilepsy, among them Philadelphia Eagles' cornerback Geoff Pope, Chief Justice John Roberts and WMTV-TV (Ch. 15) anchor Sarah Carlson.
Wartenweiler played hockey in high school, and he has worked since high school doing grounds and building maintenance, mostly at Dick's Piggly Wiggly in Monroe. The company held his job for him while he recovered from his surgery.
Wartenweiler also said he doesn't know how he would have handled the years of seizures if it weren't for the encouragement he received from Monroe Bible Church, where he worships and volunteers at AWANA, a youth group.
Wartenweiler's doctors are encouraged by his progress, he said.
"They expected the surgery to work, because it has a 95 percent chance of succeeding," he added.
Wartenweiler wants to get back into hockey after the Christmas holiday, and he's thinking about going back to school for hospital nursing.
"I can relate well to the people there," he said.