John Mayer.

Lifestyles for the Epilepsy Sufferer.

TalkAboutIt.org was created by Greg Grunberg (star of NBC's HEROES) in collaboration with the Epilepsy Foundation, and unites Hollywood stars to ask questions and to provide answers on epilepsy awareness, and invite change in the public's false understanding and perceptions about epilepsy.

INT. DAY / NIGHT. DIMLY LIT SUBWAY STATION PLATFORM NEAR AN ESCALATOR.

Singer-Songwriter JOHN MAYER enters from the left.

JOHN MAYER: Epilepsy. Anyone can be diagnosed at any time of their lives. Young or old. Male or female. And if you or someone you know is told they have epilepsy, here's some of what you should know...

The station darkens, moving focus to a TV monitor featuring an expert panel interview. Greg Grunberg interviews Dr. Joe Sirven, Mayo Clinic, Arizona.

Dr. Joe Sirven:Well first of all the first thing I wanna tell people is that we're gonna be okay.  What we're gonna try to do is find a way that you can live your life but not have to worry about seizures so much.  As you said, quality of life is everything, and so what we will try to do is basically if I saw someone, if I saw your son, I'd be trying to tell everyone, "Let's take a deep breath and let's kind of go from here as we're gonna find a way to deliver some type of treatment that's not gonna create a lot of side effects but is gonna try to prevent your seizures so you can do whatever it is and seizures and epilepsy just becomes another thing that is in the background as opposed to the main thing."

Greg:Is one drug the answer?  Should somebody feel after taking their first medication -- first of all, talk about that.  Talk about if a patient comes in.  What do you tell them in regards to, okay, you have a seizure disorder, here's the drug that I'm recommending.  What do you tell them?

Sirven:Well I tell them first of all we live in an age where we have so many different medications available so we're gonna try one that I'm gonna be hopeful is gonna do the job, and for a big percentage of people it's probably gonna be enough to deal with that, but if one drug doesn't work we have about 18 different medications that we can choose from.  They have different side effects, they have different possibilities, they work by different mechanisms, so if we do not hope after that one drug we have options.  We have plenty of options, and if drugs don't work there's surgery, there is diet, there are new devices.  We live in a time that we have hope.  We have a lot of things that we can deliver.  So what I try to make sure that I tell people is at the end it's gonna be okay because we have so many of these things available to us.

TV monitor darkens, and station brightens again, lighting upon John.  

John Mayer:  Because it can happen to anyone, because you may know someone right now who has epilepsy, please learn more about it... and promise to talk about it ...

John exits to the left, to the sound of a departing subway train.

John Mayer

(b. 1977, Bridgeport, CT)

Grammy Award Winner, 2009: Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Say"

Grammy Award Winner, 2009: Best Solo Rock Vocal Performance for "Gravity"

Grammy Award Winner, 2003: Best Male Pop Vocal Performance for "Your Body Is a Wonderland"

Talking Points Poster:

Epilepsy Foundation; Epilepsy Advocate; Epilepsy Classroom.