Epilepsy: a 22-year-old YouTuber dies after a seizure

in collaboration with

Dr Gérald Kierzek (Medical Director of Doctissimo)

A young 22-year-old epileptic student, Annabelle Ham regularly shared her daily life with her 80,000 subscribers on her Youtube account. Unfortunately, on July 15, an Instagram post published on her account announced that the girl had “crossed the gates of paradise”.

Died following an epileptic seizure

The young woman had been fighting this disease for years according to her family. “Annabelle has long struggled with this disease and wanted to raise awareness about this issue, which we will do in her honor.” they write.

Is epilepsy a fatal disease? According to those close to him,Although epilepsy is rarely fatal, seizures can still be dangerous when they start at the wrong time.“.

What is epilepsy?

Asked about this disease, Dr Gérald Kierzek, emergency doctor and medical director of Doctissimo tells us more.

“Epilepsy is a chronic disease characterized by the paroxysmal onset of seizures that vary in appearance depending on the patient. In the event of death, there are generally three situations:

• The case where the crisis is linked to another cause, such as a stroke or meningitis for example;
• The case where it is epileptic seizures, which generate a status epilepticus, ie seizures which follow one another, without regaining consciousness;
• And the case where the crisis occurs while the person is driving or in the water, for example. In this case, the seizure causes head trauma or drowning“.

According to Inserm, in 2018, epilepsy would affect 600,000 people, half of whom would be under the age of 20. It is not limited to seizures, we now know that other symptoms (cognitive or psychiatric disorders) are an integral part of the disease. Finally, knowing that there are about fifty epileptic diseases (or epileptic syndromes), we no longer speak of epilepsy but rather of epilepsies.