A year ago my sister and I joined Covenant Life and I would never have imagined how my life would change in less than a year! Four years ago our family went to Mozambique for the Easter holiday but little did my family and I know it would change my life forever! We all went snorkeling in the sea and after about 10mins I started feeling light headed, so I swam over to my dad and that was the last thing I remembered. I awoke on the beach and that’s when it all started.

I had passed out in the water near my dad and they put me in the boat and went back to shore. The next day the same thing happened in the sea once again but this time I was unconscious for 40 minutes.
That same night it happened again and by then my family was really worried so they ran around the camp site asking for doctors. Amazingly there was a doctor right next to us and he gave me an injection for the night and said it could be a sleeping disorder but if it happened again I must go to hospital. Ponte (where we were) was 1 hour from the border and the closest hospital was Richard’s Bay which was 3 hours away and we had a single entry visa so if we left we could not go back into Mozambique.

Around 10am it happened again but this time I my body was shaking. The doctor gave me another injection and said I had to go to hospital immediately. My parents drove me to the hospital and as I got there in the casualty unit it happened once again, so they sent me for a CAT scan but did not inject dye to check for any abnormality and dosed me up on cortisone for the night.

The following morning we drove back to Johannesburg and these 'episodes’ did not occur again until 3 months later. I was at school and felt my heart beat really quickly and I started to convulse like an epileptic. We went to a neurologist at Sunninghill hospital and he confirmed that I had epilepsy and put me on tablets. Two or three months went by and my seizures had not stopped; in fact they had got worse. I was having 30 seizures a day at one stage and the doctor kept on increasing the dosage but he never checked the toxic levels in my blood as you are supposed to when you are taking epilepsy tablets. I was taking 1600mg a day.

My parents decided to get a second opinion as I had missed three months of grade 11 and my condition was getting worse and I wanted to be well for matric.

After the 4th opinion we found a neurologist who specialised in epilepsy and she sent me to the epileptic unit at Milpark hospital for a week. After having been attached to 4 machines the doctor found there were irregular rhythms in my heart and ruled out epilepsy. So we went to a cardiologist at the same hospital but he was retiring in 2 months, so he referred us to a cardiologist at Sunninghill. I went for a blood test as I had to be weaned off the epilim so that I could start taking heart tablets and they found that my liver enzymes were extremely high and could not believe that my blood had not become toxic.

I was still having regular seizures and the doctors could not explain why they were happening so they sent me to a psychologist as they thought it was an attention seeking condition or that something had happened to me in my past, like abuse, but after one session with the psychologist we were back at the cardiologist. That was a hard time both for me and my family as we started to question ourselves about my past and my mental wellbeing but luckily there was nothing wrong and the psychologist didn’t even charge us or speak to my parents so we were back to the drawing board.

Six months passed and I had not had a seizure but had stopped all sport and was not allowed to drive alone. Then one day when I was driving to school with my sister in the car I felt a seizure coming on so I pulled over. I woke up 1hr later and I was in a strange car with my mom standing over me. The most frustrating thing was that I could not remember what happened during my seizures.

Thankfully I got through matric finals seizure free. 2005 was a good year with only 5 seizures the whole year but I had changed medication again and was on to the 7th doctor. He was covering both epilepsy and heart conditions concerning medicine.

Last year my life did a complete 180Àö turn. Towards the end of the year my seizures started to reoccur. I was having 4 seizures a week and they were happening in church. I was struggling spiritually at this point because before I became a Christian I asked God to heal people who were a lot sicker than me and whose illnesses were life threatening, I felt guilty asking for God to heal me when other people were suffering more than me.

After speaking to many people I realised that my illness was life threatening and was not only affecting me but my friends and family as well. So I started to ask God to heal me but to be honest my faith was wearing thin. I was starting to lose faith in Him. September last year we had a breakthrough. We found a doctor who inserted a recorder into my heart which recorded an ECG while I was having a seizure which could not be done before.

Two months passed and we had 4 good recordings and the doctor was optimistic that he knew what the root cause was, but on the 3rd of December I had a seizure, got the recording and went to the doctor on the 5th.

He said that he had no idea what was wrong with me and said I had to go back to a neurologist because there was nothing wrong with my heart.

Anger consumed my emotions and I felt that I was never going to get better. That night before I went to sleep I prayed and said to God “I give up, please Father will you heal me, here I am God take my body and get rid of any illness that is consuming it. Please Father will you heal me” and I fell asleep…

I woke up at 2:30am and saw a big white hand over my heart and I felt like I was in a twilight zone. My heart started beating quickly but then a calmness overwhelmed my entire body and since that day I have not had a seizure or any palpitations. I was healed!

When I look back God definitely gave me ‘signs’ that He was going to heal me for instance, I had a prophetic word - “who forgives all your sins and heals all your diseases” - Psalm 103:3. “I will not die but live and proclaim what the lord has done.”- Psalm 118:17.

I was looking for immediate healing and God did not want that. He wanted me to fully believe and trust in Him before he would heal me. Being a new Christian it was hard to stop believing the doctors and put all my faith in God but I surrendered myself to Him and He responded. My relationship with God now is so personal it really is amazing. God never had me out of His sight, He was always there but I believe He wanted me to draw close to Him by putting all my faith in Him and not anybody else.

I am now off all epileptic tablets and reducing my heart tablets and will be off all tablets in the new month. God made me realise the importance of faith and what it really means to put all your trust in him. Even when you think He is far away, He is always in your heart and when hard times come, you must not take control, let God take you to wherever he wants you to be.

One thing I am certain of is that God blessed me with an amazing family. My parents did everything in their power to try and find out what was causing the seizures and they stood by me every step of the way and my relationship with them has become more powerful and filled with respect and honor. My sister Michelle and my relationship grew immensely. She handled every situation that came her way with grace and maturity. She is not only my sister but my best friend as well! I am so proud of my family and thank God that he gave me such an incredible family.

When I look back over the past 4 years I have seen a change in myself. I now realize that this was indeed God’s plan for me to draw me close to Him; and he welcomed me with open arms into His Kingdom. I am a stronger person as before I would have withdrawn, rather than face the world. God has helped me grow into His daughter, the one He planned from the day I was born and I am walking with Him for eternity.

I would like to thank everyone who prayed for me and my family and for all the love and concern. We could not have got through without you!