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Asked by Alex to Alex, Ana, Clay, Keegan, Mark on 27 Apr 2016.
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Alexander Taylor answered on 27 Apr 2016:
The most difficult thing I ever faced was having a stroke at age 15. I was paralyzed in the right side of my body and had trouble remembering words for several months, and it was a couple years before I fully recovered. That experience taught me a lot about perseverance and playing the hand that’s dealt to you, even if it seems impossibly hard and unfair. It also taught me to be grateful for things that are easy to take for granted, like being able to walk or say a sentence.
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Mark Ritchie answered on 28 Apr 2016:
Fighting depression when I was a teenager and into my twenties. I had to learn a lot and work hard to have a positive outlook on life, but it has been so worth it
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Clay Robinson answered on 4 May 2016:
The most difficult thing I ever had to face had nothing to do with my science, though it affected many things about how I have to live in order to continue doing science and teaching, and science played a major role in helping me live with it.
When I was 41 years old, 13 years ago, I had a grand mal seizure. As a result, we found I had a necrotic lesion in my brain that probably had been there for a long time and had no explanation for being there. Thankfully, it was not growing.
Science helped me a lot. I was scanned in every way possible, and have been radioactive as they put tracers in me to try to understand what was happening in my brain. All of those scanners were developed by scientists: MRIs, CAT scanners, PET scanners. The medicine I take every day to control my seizures was developed by scientists. The neurologist I see is a medical doctor, a scientist who specializes in studying the brain and nervous system.
Once we started learning about seizures, we realized I had been having auras and petit mal seizures for years, we just did not know it. I would smell things that were not there (usually ammonia), I would feel like I was having an out-of-body deja vu experience, I would get light-headed and hot and nauseous and dizzy all at the same time but just for 30 seconds or so, I would smack my lips for no reason and stare off into space, and might or might not remember doing it.
Many things in my life changed, as I had to be more careful about getting enough sleep (I seldom slept more than 6 hours a night, and now usually get at least 7), eating enough food and drinking enough water (I drink a lot of water every day, but sometimes go too long between getting drinks, and sometimes I would get so involved in my work that I would forget to eat.). It took quite a while to find the right medication and right doctor for me; the first doctor did not really listen to me and prescribed a medicine that made it hard for me to remember things, and it did not control my seizures very well. The doctor’s response was to increase my dosage. A professor who teaches needs to be mentally sharp, and medicine that takes that away is not good. I finally went to a different doctor who was a specialist in working with seizure patients, he listened to me and put me on a new medication that works much better and does not dim my mental faculties. Sometimes I still have memories that are gone because every time a seizure happens, part of the brain are damaged.
But I doubt my family and I would have made it through all that without my faith in God and the fellowship and support from friends in our church.
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