Cruise Part 2

     Thanks to all of you my previous post about the callous way in which our daughter and her dad were forced off their cruise vacation on board the Royal Caribbean Cruise "Adventure of the Seas" was seen by over eight hundred and seventy folks! That's astonishing to me! The positive comments and votes of confidence have done much to bolster our daughter's feelings and sense of self. In my opinion it is bad enough to endure the indignity and chaos that a life with epilepsy provides without being forced to feel as though she had any choice in the matter: seizures happen. It's up to us to move on from there and live our best life.
     At this moment, we have had no response except an email sent on the seventeenth of March asking for our patience and understanding while they review our concerns which they estimated will take a few business days. Which means that it has been ten days with no response. Therefore the only thing I can gather is that folks with epilepsy are not welcome on their cruise ships. We of course will never be taking that type of vacation again. It is very disappointing because it seemed as though the world had taken great strides in it's empathy for and acceptance of people with extraordinary needs and specifically epilepsy.
     This week our daughter will do her sixth consecutive Purple Day talk at her sister's elementary school. She will tell the kids what to do if they see someone having a seizure. She will talk to them about Purple Day and why a Canadian girl thought that epilepsy awareness was a good idea. She will let them know that people with epilepsy sometimes feel alone in the world. She will teach younger children that kids with epilepsy are just like anyone else. They just need a little comfort for a few minutes from time to time. A little comfort and a little understanding.

Cruise

     My sixteen year old daughter and my husband were just removed from a Royal Caribbean cruise " Adventure of the Seas" before it ever left port in San Juan, Puerto Rico earlier this month. The reason--- because my daughter has epilepsy and had two small seizures before the ship departed. Plane travel is tiring, changes in sleep and eating schedules often occur and our daughter has had seizures before while on vacation. She has had almost seventy seizures in her short life and we have learnt to cope with them: at school, in the car, in airports, in restaurants, at church, at Special Olympics, at Club Med even while shopping at Ikea. In every instance people have gone out of their way to assist us. Until now. In this instance the doctor on board treated my daughter coldly and uncaringly. She demanded that my husband pay $200.00 so that she could examine our daughter. When my husband declined, she retreated to her office. She did not even inquire about the anti-epileptic medications my daughter was taking or look at her medic-alert bracelet so as to determine her health history. The doctor then told them they had a half an hour to pack and get off the boat making it impossible for our family members to consult one another. The purser backed her up.
     Even the five year olds at the elementary school where our daughter does her epilepsy awareness talk every year will tell you: epilepsy is not a disease; it is a neurological disorder that affects almost one in every hundred people. People with epilepsy should be given the same treatment as anyone else. For the doctor, the staff and this cruise line to treat my family like this is unconscionable. Their family reunion turned into a week of hanging around in San Juan until everyone else returned so that they could at least have one full day together. This was a rare opportunity for my husband who lives in B.C. to see his son and grandchildren who live in Ontario. And this is a son who brings himself and at least thirty other friends and family members on this cruise every year and has done so for the last four years. All I can say is that the Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines has set the epilepsy awareness cause back one hundred years. If you have epilepsy don't cruise with this company. You never know when they may leave you stranded.