About the Cover Artist

My name is Ingrid Pfau, and I am not afraid to share that I have active epilepsy. After all, I am a filmmaker who works with people with disabilities in Birmingham, AL at the National Center on Health Physical Activity and Disability (NCHPAD). My journey toward understanding that I had drug-resistant epilepsy happened at the University of Alabama, Birmingham (UAB), where after 10 years of unsuccessful drug treatments, I had stereoEEG (SEEG). Accepting that my hair would vanish, 14 electrodes were drilled into the temporal region of my skull and brain and left there for 10 days. During this time, I could not walk out of my hospital room and had multiple tonic-clonic seizures. My comprehensive epilepsy care team found where my seizures were coming from—the whole point of an SEEG. Unlike most people, I asked to have everything that was used during the procedure given to me as a gift when I left UAB.

Afterwards, I was asked to wash only below my head for another 9 days. Feeling creative, I used that time to make my film Universal Auras, which was shown during the Hidden Truths Project in multiple cities in 2019. I also felt the need to take pictures of myself with everything that was used during the SEEG process. I asked my twin sister to help me place the metal and electrodes in the right places as I put my head in a box full of light with a white background. The picture titled SEEG Reality on the cover is just that—the truth behind my SEEG that I have no wish to hide. I believe more people should know SEEG exists and that they might benefit from it. People with epilepsy that does not respond to drug treatments should be aware there are other options. We are people after all, not just patients. Multiple neurologists reviewed my case and decided that because my seizures were originating from 3 or more locations, vagal nerve stimulation (VNS) might be my best option. With VNS, I still have some seizures, but it’s better than having 12 seizures a day.