'People think my daughter is a daydreamer – they couldn't be more wrong'

ELIANA is a bubbly 10-year-old, sharp-witted with a quirky sense of humour.

- LOIS MCCARTHY

On the surface she looks like any other child her age. But behind that brightness is a daily reality shaped by an illness that makes even ordinary childhood milestones feel precarious.

Riding a bike, sleeping alone, or simply drifting off without fear are things she hesitates to do. Her world is shaped by epilepsy: complex, unpredictable, and sometimes dangerous.

Epilepsy is a neurological condition that can affect anyone, at any age, and from any background.

According to Epilepsy Action, in the UK, around 630,000 people live with the condition; roughly one in every 100. Each day, approximately 80 people receive a new diagnosis.

Among these, one in four are over the age of 65, and one in 67 older adults has epilepsy, a figure that is expected to rise.

Children are also affected: about one in every 220 under the age of 18 will be diagnosed, meaning that in a typical primary school there may be two children with epilepsy, and ina secondary school, around nine.

Eliana's seizures take multiple forms, and their unpredictability has real consequences. She experiences absences, where she stares blankly, and episodes where she walks in circles.

“Some people may not see anything wrong - that she is just daydreaming. But you can’t get her out of her own headspace,’ her mum Lucinda Daniel explained.

Drop seizures can make her collapse suddenly, and in January last year, one caused her to fall and split her lip, requiring same-day plastic surgery.

Focal seizures affect her chest muscles, making it difficult to breathe, with her arms and legs jerking involuntarily.

“It gives her a lot of anxiety,” Lucinda, from Ammanford, said.

“She’s got a bike, but she’s too scared to learn to ride it because she’s worried she might have a seizure and fall off.”

Eliana was born 10 weeks early and was not expected to survive. Lucinda remembers the day in 2015 vividly.