A Daughter’s Diagnosis Inspires Concerts for Epilepsy

This week on Seizing Life® we speak with Matt Perrone about his epilepsy onset and treatment journey, the impacts of seizures and medication on his mental health, and how his daughter’s diagnosis at the age of four spurred him to create EpiPalooza, a multi-band concert aimed at raising awareness and funds for epilepsy research.

Matt Perrone experienced his first seizure in 1993 at the age of 16. Following a period of medication trial and error and several more seizures, Matt was fortunate to gain seizure control with Depakote within a few months of his epilepsy onset. By his own admission, this control allowed Matt to live for many years without much thought or concern for epilepsy. However, when his four-year-old daughter began experiencing seizures, Matt was moved to learn more about epilepsy and become involved within the epilepsy community. Seeking to make a difference in the epilepsy world, Matt turned to what he knew best, music. In 2019, shortly after his daughter’s diagnosis, Matt created EpiPalooza, a multi-band concert that raises awareness and funds for epilepsy research by incorporating personal stories into an evening of music. Matt recounts the onset of his own epilepsy as well as his daughter’s diagnosis, and discusses the comorbid mental health impacts that can result from epilepsy and medications, an area that he now focuses on as EpiPalooza enters its fourth year and expands to a second concert in 2023.

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