EPILEPTIC SEIZURE IN PUBLIC EYE

Troubled By Videos Poking Fun, Couple Posts 'Real Thing' On
Youtube

The first time Christine Lowe saw herself convulsing during an
epileptic seizure, she pawed at the television screen, fixated on the
image of herself losing complete control of her body.

Now she wants to share the video with a massive Internet audience.

Life, death situation

Lowe's husband, Russell Barth, posted the video on YouTube yesterday
morning, hoping to give people a real taste of what epilepsy patients
go through.

The Ottawa couple, who are also vocal marijuana activists, were
disturbed by other videos on YouTube poking fun at seizures.

"People need to understand it's a life-and-death situation," said
Lowe, 37. "This is the real thing. This is what it looks like."

The video was shot Jan. 31, 2003, after Lowe asked Barth to tape her
seizure.

For the first time in her life, Lowe could see what others had
described to her so many times.

Barth's friend taped the seizure as Barth assisted Lowe.

The video shows Lowe with her head pressed up against a couch, shaking
and grinding her teeth as Barth comforts her.

Throughout the short video, Barth uses captions to narrate what's
happening. At one point he describes his efforts to control Lowe, the
"meat puppet."

That's one issue Epilepsy Ontario executive director Dianne Findlay
had with the video after watching it yesterday.

"While the seizure itself seems to be an accurate depiction of a
tonic-clonic seizure, some of the written references that were flashed
on the screen or the caregiver's responses are not," Findlay said,
calling the meat puppet remark a "demeaning reference."

Findlay questioned the motivation for the video.

Barth, 37, said the couple is trying to clear the misconceptions of
epilepsy and seizures. He plans to post similar videos on YouTube.

ADVOCATES POT USE

For Lowe and Barth, the video serves a dual purpose in that it
advocates marijuana use as a coping mechanism for illness. Lowe said
her seizures have decreased each year since she stopped taking
prescribed medication and switched to medicinal marijuana in 2002.

Lowe and Barth have federal medicinal marijuana licences.

"The main thing we want to do is educate the public about epilepsy and
medical marijuana," Barth said.

Findlay said Epilepsy Ontario doesn't have an official stance on
medicinal marijuana, but noted pot use has benefited some people and
triggered seizures in others.

Lowe's video isn't the only first-person account of epileptic
experiences on YouTube, but it's one of the few that actually
documents a real seizure.

Lowe said she's not timid about YouTube viewers getting front-row
seats to a vulnerable moment in her life.

"I want them to be open-minded about it," she said. "This needs to be
done."