Article content

Chiara Sparks fell so far behind in her Grade 12 English class that only a huge assignment would let her graduate on time: writing a 100-page book.

That was hard. The topic choice wasn’t — her life with epilepsy.

We apologize, but this video has failed to load.

tap here to see other videos from our team. Try refreshing your browser, or Into the light: Chiara Sparks emerges from the darkness of epilepsy with first book Back to video

“I figured, I’m going to write a book with my personal experiences so that other people with epilepsy and illnesses like mine will at least have something to relate to and be, like, okay I’m not alone,” Sparks said recently.

Today, the almost-19-year-old isn’t just a high school graduate but an author. Her debut book is Just Like the Lotus: A Remarkably Honest Account of a Young Girl’s Battle With Epilepsy.

“Lotuses grow from mud. You can’t have the beauty without the gross,” Sparks says. “The lessons I’ve learned from epilepsy, it’s turned me into a better person — wiser, more knowing, more compassionate, more empathy.”

Photo by Michelle Berg / Saskatoon StarPhoenix

She can say that now but what she’s gone through has been daunting. Her seizures started when she was 12 and turned her life upside down. The first medication she took stripped away every emotion except anger. There was so much of that, her mother Jennifer had to call the police on occasion because she feared for her own safety. When one officer dismissed her behaviour as a tantrum, she almost went after him.