Nick's Race to End Epilepsy
Nick Watka is raising money for CURE Epilepsy
Participants: Lynne Watka, Jack Jones, Mark Watka, Steven Watka, Angelica Hardman, Erin LaVallie
Story
Here's a little bit about me...
For all of those that don’t know me, please allow me to introduce myself. My name is Nick Watka. I'm from LaGrange Park, IL. I went to St. Francis Xavier parochial school in LaGrange. Then following my graduation I followed a long lineage of family to attend Saint Ignatius College Prep in Chicago for high school. After 4 years of hard work in a competitive environment my goal was to go to college in another city. Following the Jesuit paradigm and after meeting with the President of Boston College, Father Leahy, I believed BC was a perfect fit.
My experience at Boston College was truly one of the best decisions I’ve ever made. I was able to meet so many new people from the east coast while also discovering a new city.
Following my 2011 graduation from BC, I was hired as an Account manager for Northern Trust. Slowly but steadily I climbed the ladder becoming the youngest senior account manager in their Non For Profit division. It seemed as though everything ways going my way and I was cruising towards my dreams until 2012 when I experienced my first seizure. Luckily my brother, Steven, was there by my side to reach out for help.
I was put on Anti Seizure medication, and between 2012 and 2019 I'd typically experience a break thru seizure once a year. Thus, I believed that my diagnosis was manageable.
However, one fateful day in March 2019 that changed my life forever. After driving from Illinois to North Carolina with my brother, mother, and stepdad we finally reached our destination of Pinehurst, NC to play one of the greatest golf courses in the US.
Prior to teeing off, I decided to hit balls at their driving range. After a couple of swings I felt light headed and dizzy. The last thing I remember was the sound of the right side of my skull smashing into black concrete.
After spending over a month in the Moore Regional ICU in NC, I was then transferred to Loyola Medical Center in IL to have a cranioplasty. which resulted in success.
Given my significant brain trauma, to this day my seizures occur more often and what is scarier is that they have become more erratic.
It’s important for me to raise as much awareness as possible so that the medical field can keep making more advances towards cures and better medications to help powerless individuals as myself and especially those younger folks who have dealt with this during the early years of their young lives.