Kayleigh
Kayleigh joined Young Epilepsy three years ago after staff at her mainstream school were finding it difficult to cope with her seizures. Since then, she has not only studied for several qualifications, she has added numerous strings to her bow, including baking, film-making and horse-riding.
Kayleigh joined Young Epilepsy at the age of 16. She had been at a mainstream school before that, but staff there didn’t know what to do when she had a seizure. Trips to hospital became a frequent occurrence as staff always called an ambulance. Following a brain operation at 14, Kayleigh’s seizures reduced in frequency, but Kayleigh and her mum still decided she would be better off coming to Young Epilepsy. We felt staff would be much better at dealing with my seizures here,
explains Kayleigh.
Since joining the college, Kayleigh has combined business administration studies with numerous vocational courses. She has also studied hair and beauty at East Surrey College and is now going there to study health and social care too. The best bit is having your hair done and working with other students to try out new ideas on a model,
says Kayleigh. Longer term, she would like to study childcare.
Like all Young Epilepsy FE students, Kayleigh has daily tutorials that give her extra support. In addition, our on-site psychologist has encouraged Kayleigh to keep a detailed daily diary to help manage the memory problems caused by her epilepsy. Learning new life skills has also been a key focus for Kayleigh since she’s been at the college. She’s learnt to cook and clean for herself, and she now makes a mean vanilla sponge cake
.
Living in a Young Epilepsy residential house has also resulted in a busy social life. Kayleigh takes part in many activities, including Girls’ Brigade, weekly discos and film-making sessions with other students. But, for her, one of the best experiences of all has been learning to ride. She regularly attends a centre called Only Foals and Horses
, which specialises in Riding for the Disabled. I like the horse to gallop really fast,
she smiles.
Kayleigh also manages to fit in trips home some weekends and during the holidays. Her two younger brothers are always really happy to see her – even though they tease her for being their bossy older sister! Kayleigh would like to continue studying in a mainstream college and go onto work with children.
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