November is National Epilepsy Awareness Month, and one Lincoln man is doing his part by sharing his family's story and offering support for others.

Dave Shroeder has had epilepsy since he was 12. But now, thanks to an amazing brain surgery, his family could finally be free of the neurological disorder.

"I've basically had epilepsy for 47 years. The only thing it's stopped me from doing is driving," said Dave.

But now, his wife might get a break from driving him around, since his surgery was a success.

"I had part of my right temporal lobe and part of my hippocampus removed... It's been approximately 79 days - seizure free, and before that the most I could go was three weeks, if that," said Dave.

But not every epilepsy patient is eligible for surgery - and a recently added program at Bryan LGH West, is helping patients find their ideal treatment. Jamie Gibson helps facilitate Bryan LGH West's EEG program under Neurologist Dr. Matthew Kniss, which began in 2008 and so far has helped 19 patients get a handle on their seizures.

"Our goal with the program is to help improve the quality of life of our patients and to help them get some relief from either the frequency or the intensity of which they're experiencing their spells," said Gibson.

And the key to finding that relief is the EEG machine. Gibson explains the EEG machine uses 24 electrodes attached to a patient's scalp, to read their brain waves over a period of time to document their seizures.

"It's important to look at brain-wave activity for an epilepsy patient in order to classify the types of seizures that a person is having. Some of them affect one area of the brain versus another, some of them can start very briefly on one side of the brain and then spread, others and can happen all at once. Depending on what type of seizure a person is having, can make a big difference as to what medication they're placed on and then also to see if they're a candidate for surgery or not," Gibson said.

Something Dave Shroeder was fortunate enough to be eligible for, but his wife Georgia is still finding hard to believe.

"I am still nervous, I'm still waiting for him to... I just watch him all the time, OK - is he going to be having something? I just everyday, thank the Lord that we're as safe as we are," said Georgia.

Along the way Dave and Georgia agree the support groups they're a part of in Lincoln have made their journey a lot easier, and now they want to share the support with others.

If you'd like to get involved or learn more about the Lincoln Epilepsy Support Group, you can email the group leader Michele Johannes at michele170@hotmail.com or you can contact the Epilepsy Foundation of Illinois, Iowa, and Nebraska at 1-800-221-2689. You can also visit www.epilepsyheartland.org by clicking on the link below.

For more information on Bryan LGH West's Continuous Video EEG program you can call 402-481-8943 and click on the video links above to see how the equipment works.