High-Tech Operation Cures Mom's Epilepsy

Lana Sampson

Lana Sampson experienced her first epileptic seizure when she was 12 years old. Although doctors diagnosed a tumor as the cause of her seizures, brain surgery was too risky at that time to help Lana. For the next 25 years, she endured epilepsy drugs that had deeply troubling side effects. “They disturbed my memory, which affected my whole life,” Lana said. “I didn’t do very well in school, I couldn’t go to college, I couldn’t drive, and I couldn’t participate in activities. I had no confidence, and I accepted it as my life.”

Despite her quiet burden, Lana married and in 2002 became the mother of a baby girl, Mackenzie. Sadly, her medications continued to rob Lana of nearly all her energy and still they couldn’t stop her nightly seizures. Constantly exhausted, she was unable to enjoy even routine activities with her toddler.

In the fall of 2005 Lana changed physicians and came to Loyola. “I immediately felt different at Loyola. Other doctors would say everything seemed okay and just keep writing prescriptions. But after Dr. Asconapé studied my history, he said the medications could be damaging and that there must be a reason for my seizures.”

Jorge Asconapé, MD, professor, neurology, specializes in epilepsy. He told Lana that what her other physicians considered a cyst was actually a tumor. “Often if a tumor remains in the brain, seizures don’t respond to medicine,” Dr. Asconapé explained. At Dr. Asconapé’s recommendation, Lana met with Douglas Anderson, MD, professor, neurological surgery, a noted brain surgeon. “We were reasonably certain that if we could remove the tumor and the tissue immediately surrounding it, she would be done with seizures and medications for the rest of her life.”

On March 9, 2006, Dr. Anderson performed the operation that changed Lana’s life forever. With the aid of 16 tiny electrodes on the surface of her brain, computer software to guide his movements and leading-edge surgical technology, Dr. Anderson used sound waves to take out the tumor. Just four days after the successful surgery, Lana reunited with her husband and daughter at their Jefferson Park home.

Lana has had no seizures since the operation, and she no longer needs epilepsy drugs. Lana, her friends and family all marvel at her newfound energy and confidence. And in a major lifestyle change, Lana learned to drive – the perpetual passenger became the neighborhood carpool driver. “My friends don’t even try my house phone anymore,” Lana said. “They call my cell because they know I’m always out.”

Perhaps most gratifying is Lana’s new relationship with her daughter. She loves being active with Mackenzie, whether it’s playing in the park, shopping in the mall, enjoying hide-and-seek at home or driving her to ice skating and dance. “Mackenzie is the main reason I had the operation. I am now the mom I want her to know.”

For more information about Loyola’s expertise in neurosciences or to make an appointment, call (888) LUHS-888.