Forth Road Bridge runner found exercise was key to living with epilepsy

BEN SMITH will look the picture of health today as he embarks on a 10k run back and forwards over the Forth Road Bridge.

That may be hardly surprising as he’s a super-toned fitness instructor and personal trainer.

But Kirkcaldy-based Ben’s life has been changed totally by epilepsy. He has up to seven seizures a week, any one of which he fears could be catastrophic.

Ben, who’s 25, spent six years working as a chef before making a career change.

“Food was a real passion as kid and from when I was 17 or 18 I worked everywhere from bistros to high-end restaurants,” said Ben.

“It can be very demanding, with long days.

“I started thinking that I wanted to do something else and that’s when I looked into becoming a fitness instructor.”

Although he can’t be sure, Ben suspects the punishing schedule he took on to make his dream come true may have played a part in his epilepsy.

He was slotting in re-training and workouts in every spare moment, pushing himself to the limit.

There was no family history of epilepsy and he’d never had any problems before he took a seizure out of the blue.

“I was getting changed at the gym after teaching a class and the next thing I woke up in Victoria Hospital.

“I was panicking, not about what had just happened but whether I might have to scrap my new career.”

Ben’s episodes take various forms, from just staring blankly for up to 90 seconds when someone is speaking to him, to collapses and violent fits.

And those moments, he admits, are sudden, dramatic and often distressing.

“In one of the recent fits I was chatting to someone at work and just dropped to the floor for quite a while,” says Ben. “My girlfriend Caitlin had come in and I saw her face before waking up in my bed at home. I get no warning signs whatsoever and I don’t remember anything at all afterwards.

“I panic every time it happens, and that’s still most weeks.

“There have been a couple of occasions where I’ve woken up in the morning with blood on the sheets and a sore mouth where I’ve obviously bit my tongue.

“I worry that I could choke in my sleep or fall and crack my head with no one around to help. It’s frightening and it must be quite disturbing to witness.”

Ben says his employers, work colleagues and Caitlin have been brilliant but he’s been told he will be on medication for the rest of his life.

He’s been doing timed runs, including marathons, every month and today sees the Forth Road Bridge run starting at North Queensferry.

He is filming it live for social media and a YouTube channel.

It’s an apt date for it as it is Purple Day, a global event aimed at bringing the condition out of the shadows.

“I want to show people that keeping fit and healthy can make a difference,” adds Ben.

“And that you really can still live a pretty normal life.”

Find out more at facebook.com/epilepsyscotland