Many people live successfully with epilepsy, including Alan Faneca, the All-Pro guard for the Pittsburgh Steelers, and Chanda Gunn, goaltender for the U.S. women's hockey team competing at the Olympic Games.

		More Info For more information about epilepsy and the epilepsy support programs and services offered locally, contact the Epilepsy Foundation Western/Central Pennsylvania at 1-800-361-5885 or www.efwp.org

Mr. Faneca, who cooperates with the Epilepsy Foundation in raising awareness of the disorder, was diagnosed with petit mal seizures as a teenager. The seizures are controlled by medication, and he said doctors did not discourage him from continuing with football.

But epilepsy nearly derailed Ms. Gunn's promising hockey career.

Seizures indirectly fostered her interest in the game. She was a swimmer when she was diagnosed with epilepsy at age 9, but gave up the sport over safety concerns, she said in a telephone interview.

"Before my seizures were controlled, there was a lot of concern about me being in a pool."

So she turned to soccer, then hockey, and fell in love with the game.

For years, medication kept her seizures in check, and she won a hockey scholarship to the University of Wisconsin.

There, the seizures "spiraled out of control," she said. She would stop talking in mid-sentence or have grand mal seizures.

Ms. Gunn, 25, attributed the resurgence to losing touch with her doctors, who did not have the opportunity to increase her seizure medication as she grew older.

"I began to take my seizure control for granted," she said.

She had to be hospitalized before stronger and more frequent medication quelled the seizures. But she lost her scholarship and her position on the hockey team.

"I was devastated," she recalled. "My dream had been yanked from me."

Determined to play again, she went to Northeastern University, where she became the hockey team's all-time leader in saves and was named NCAA Sportswoman of the Year. Last year, she helped the U.S. women's team bring home the world championship, defeating Canada in an overtime shootout.

Her message to others with epilepsy is that its devastating effects often can be overcome.

"If you communicate with your doctor and take care of yourself, you can live a perfectly normal life."