Pippa's International Quest of Activism

Pippa's journey through being diagnosed, to her current work in epilepsy advocacy.

Hi I’m Pippa! I’m 16 years old and this is my story. I love acting at Pauline Quirke Academy of Performing Arts Bury every Saturday and cheerleading at fusion dance and fitness in Weir and I also love to sing, model and dance! I was diagnosed with epilepsy at age 14 after suffering a seizure in school age 12, just a week before my 13th birthday. It was just a regular day in school with my friends and teachers, I was in the middle of math class, and the paper went blurry. I had an eye test booked because that had been happening for the past week. I asked the boy next to me to read it and I’m not sure if he was trying to be a comedian or not, but he started to read it out loud, so I asked him if he could physically read the sheet and he said he could. I wrote down the first question and then went to write the second, and I remember bumping my head on the table and then everything just went blank. I woke up in the medical room with lots of teachers around me. They told me that my mum was coming to pick me up, and because my school barely sends anyone home, I started to get a bit suspicious. My mum and granddad turned up and mum told me that I had a seizure. Later on, a girl from school told me everything that had happened. Apparently I’d landed on the shoulders of the boy who read the sheet out, and another girl got the teacher’s attention, whilst the medical staff sorted me out.

Since having epilepsy, I haven’t been as bubbly or as confident as I was before I had epilepsy. Usually I’d be crazy around the house but now I’m tired all the time, I have headaches, and more recently: hair loss. My worst seizure was the next year after that, when I had coronavirus. I was cuddled up with my mum on the couch under a blanket watching tv, we both had coronavirus so we were both off work and school to rest. Suddenly, I started to not breathe and passed out. I don’t remember much, but later on in the evening we were still cuddled up watching tv and having our tea when I couldn’t breathe again. I launched my plate into my mums arms because that time I knew that I was going to pass out again!

Pippa when she was a kid, before she was diagnosed, standing with Pluto.

I don’t want anyone to go through what I’ve had to go through. I want to make schools, and the general public, aware of epilepsy because it’s not very well educated about, during all of my time in school I’ve never had a single lesson about epilepsy ever, only in my Duke of Edinburgh lessons because I was taking part and it was to show people what to do if I was to go into a seizure. Luckily, we didn’t need to do any of that and it was a very good but tiring trip! A teacher at my school even accused me of faking seizures in order to get time off of school. My friends and family are aware of what to do but my boyfriend Jake is very supportive of me and we love each other very much. He is the one that makes me confident and helps me to know that I’m not alone. He guides me through my life with epilepsy.

I made a petition on change.org which has over 3,000 signatures and it is one of the top petitions on the website relating to epilepsy! To some people, that may seem like a small number. But to me, that’s mind blowing. I made a blog on social media and it shows the daily life of a teenager like me with epilepsy and how my lifestyle is like every day. I wake up tired most days and drowsy due to my medication and my walking is sometimes affected too. I suffer from inward ankles that cause pain for me when I walk which causes me to limp around a lot, so I have to have insteps in my shoes. I have a blog on Instagram @pippameadowcroft which has almost 3,000 followers and I post about my daily life as a teen with epilepsy, everything good and bad epilepsy is not the only thing that I suffer from! There are heartbreaking parts to my story as well such as when I got diagnosed, at first I didn’t know how to take the news, all my independence had just gone, just like that! I’ve been called many names and have had many unkind comments thrown at me, which has led me to believe that I was a burden to everyone and that I should just feel sorry for myself. But despite that, I never stopped trying!

One of the many examples of Pippa's activism!

I was nominated for a National Diversity Award, and my next goal is that when I leave school next year, I'm going to save up to buy lots of epilepsy packs and donate them to schools all across England. I want to do assemblies also since children and young people and schools need educating, teachers need educating too, not just the students. My school gives me all the support I need but not all schools are like that. I discovered someone who sold epilepsy packs and now, whenever I get pocket money, I buy an epilepsy pack. And when I leave school, I’m planning on doing assemblies in schools all across the UK! I’ve also written to my local MP to try to get epilepsy on the major conditions strategy and even appeared on the front page of my local newspaper and most recently appeared on the Lancashire Telegraph. I’m currently in another project with FYI sky kids and BBC, and most recently have been in contact with the current prime minister and been on BBC Radio 5 Live. My plea to everyone is to just make more awareness about epilepsy. I’ve also started a fundraiser for Young Epilepsy and recently hit my target of £100, currently taking part in 2 fundraisers and I’m a young supporter and part of the youth voice network to support people with epilepsy and that’s all I ask for!