Jacob Eason

Most 27 year olds are in the prime of their life - living it up as a single party animal, or starting to look to the future; travel, buying a first home, getting married or starting a family.

Jacob Eason just wants to lead a seizure free and drug free life.

Having dealt with epilepsy since he was 12, and the side effects that come with (unsuccessfully) treating epilepsy we are hoping we can give Jake an option to holistically tackle this illness so he can enjoy life.

After researching alternative treatments in Hamilton, Ross Heaven, sharman and psychologist was recommended to Jake. Ross Sharmen works in conjunction with Amaru Spirit, run by David 'Slocum' Hewson and his partner and they are dedicated to healing the body and spirit through cleansing and nutrition.

We need $42,000 to send Jake to the Amazon for a retreat for 3 months.

We know alternative therapies sounds like a ‘witch doctor’ sales pitch, but I can assure you it is anything but! We feel as though this is the last option we have left to try.

We are hoping this page and other fundraising activities can alleviate some of the financial pressure on Jake’s family.

Every little bit counts and we would appreciate anything you are able to spare to help Jake get there.

Jake’s Story.

Jacob was born 9th June 1988. He was a healthy, contented baby who grew up with his older brother and three younger brothers.

All early indications of Jacob’s development showed he was shaping up to be an accomplished student, a gifted sports person and above all else a lovely person.

Jacob loved the outdoors and spent many weekends with friends and his brothers playing soccer, hiking, camping, rock climbing and the like.

When Jake was just 12 years old, in April 2000, we woke to hearing Jake’s first Epileptic seizure. He was taken to hospital and after a weekend of tests was prescribed his first Antiepileptic drug (AED) for Juvenile Myoclonic Epilepsy, or JME.

Epilepsy is a common neurological disorder that affects 1% - 2% of the population. In over 30% of epileptic patients, seizures cannot be controlled with treatment. The people affected have recurring and spontaneous seizures. There are different types of seizures but they are always due to bursts of electrical activity in the brain.

The cause of epilepsy can be due to severe head injury, strokes, birth trauma, brain tumours, toxins, brain infection, brain diseases, genetic condition or drug abuse. In Jake’s case, as with as many as two-thirds of cases, the cause is unknown.

For the first year, the drug seemed to control his seizures. Then back they came.

Jake has never been able to drive, or do many things most young people have the chance to experience. Jake has tried flatting, but because of how violent his seizures are he needs more support from his family, so he needs to live at home. Jakes social life is limited in order to mitigate as many risks as possible.

Since the original diagnosis, Jake has had three different specialists; he has tried a dietician prescribed ketogenic diet, along with acupuncture, homeopathic, naturopathic, osteopathic, and physio therapies. The specialists have tried every medication, including cocktails of drugs and some have horrendous side effects. Jakes original diagnosis was revisited and two years ago he was diagnosed with Frontal Lobe Epilepsy.

In the last year Jakes seizures have changes dramatically again. To the point of being hospitalised for three weeks in which his seizures were so bad, at least once a day the security guards were called in had to hold Jake down, he was so strong.

Jake now has been diagnosed with epileptic psychoses, a rare form of epilepsy occurring in 2-10% of patients with epilepsy, which can create paranoid delusions and hallucinations. Jake is now fully conscious during these seizures and they excruciatingly painful for him both mentally and physically.

We have now found out that AEDs can play a role in the genesis of psychiatric symptoms, particularly in users over a decade or more, and some psychotropic medications can lower the seizure threshold and provoke epileptic seizures.

Every time these seizures occur Jake was given drugs to stop them, to the point of having to be put in the resuscitation unit in case of heart failure.

A few facts about Epilepsy:

• Epilepsy affects 50 million people worldwide – more than Multiple Sclerosis, Cerebral Palsy, Muscular Dystrophy, and Parkinson’s Disease combined.

• One in 100 people will develop Epilepsy.

• One in 10 people will suffer a seizure in their lifetime.

• 30% of those diagnosed are children.

• Uncontrolled seizures may lead to brain damage and death.

• The mortality rate among people with Epilepsy is two to three times higher than the general population.

• Risk of sudden death among those with Epilepsy is twenty-four times greater.

No form of medication now controls Jakes’ epilepsy and the side effects are worse than the condition. At 27 years of age, Jake has made the decision to come off all medication. Since Christmas he has come off two of the drugs and is slowly coming off the last one.

After researching alternative treatments in Hamilton, and given the nature of Jake’s changing and now uncontrollable epilepsy, Ross Heaven, working with Amaru Spirit (a treatment centre based in the Amazon rain-forest, outside Iquitos, Peru) was recommended to Jake. We believe this is our only option now.

Ross Sharmen works in conjunction with Amaru Spirit, run by David 'Slocum' Hewson and his partner and they are dedicated to healing the body and spirit through cleansing and nutrition.

We need $42,000 to send Jake to the Amazon for a retreat for 3 months. The money needed for treatment will cover return flights to Peru, a personally-tailored treatment plan for his three-month stay; including all food and accommodation and the cost for Ross Heaven to be with Jake 24 hours a day.

Ross Heaven is a shaman, psychologist, author, healer, workshop facilitator and presenter. From the late 1990s he has apprenticed to the ayahuasca healing traditions of the Peruvian Amazon and this combined with his background in traditional medicine as a psychologist makes him the perfect facilitator for Jake’s time at Amaru Spirit.

Any help you can give us to help get Jake there, and give him a fighting chance to beat this, would be most appreciated.