Harry’ I’ve always loved aeroplanes since I was young. and when I was ten, ten was my big, my first big birthday,

Mum’ Double figures.

Harry’ Yeah, my first double figure birthday and my godfather he knows I like planes, he bought me for my present my first ever flying lesson and took me up and I had a lesson I think it was it [place name]. Well it was airfield [place name] and I had my first lesson. And I had a couple more after that, I even on one of them I landed the plane which I was quite impressed. Yeah, I didn’t even think about having epilepsy when I did that it was just the fact that I was only 11 and I did that.

Mum’ Looped the loop and was sick everywhere.

Harry’ Yeah, I went upside down and I threw up everywhere.

Before I went to university and I did basketball and tetrathlon which is running, swimming, shooting and ridin. I ride and I skied and I just did loads of sport I sort of ran at school. And I wasn’t, you know, really amazing sort of level of sport but I enjoyed and my friends were all sporty and that sort of thing. And when I went to Uni I carried that on and I was in the Athletics Club and the Basketball Club. But after I’d had two [seizures] running it kind of knocked me back I didn’t really wanna push myself running because obviously I’m relating to two of them, even though my neurologist actually said it’s not a trigger for epilepsy, it’s unlikely to have anything to do with it but I kind of still related it. And then when I had the fourth one running that was sort of even more and since then I have run a bit, but I wouldn’t say I run, I don’t do sport like I used to do it. But I am kind of bringing it in a bit more now, my boyfriend’s starting to run with me. And people have been really good and even the girl who I ran with who I had my second seizure with she’s been offering to run with me if I want to do it. People do offer to run with me but there’s kind of like a little nagging in the back of my brain. But then I’ve just been to talk to my neurologist about it not long ago and he said to be sensible and just build it up slowly so and just I know that I won’t run when I’m ill or when I’m tired or when I’m really stressed and so just to be more sensible about the whole thing. But yeah I’ve always wanted to run the marathon so, hopefully one day I will get back to it.

They tell you like you can’t swim you know if you have epilepsy and you know you can’t mix and wander around that type of thing. And that always used to really affect me. I used to think oh, you know, I want to do that but I used to just take people with me. And there are ways around it. You can inform the lifeguard that you have it if you feel comfortable enough. If not, take a friend, if you really want to swim on your own, then inform the lifeguard. But with surfing there often isn’t a lifeguard and I surf in winters. So yeah, that was a big problem. But it is just surf, I surf with friends. Very careful of the beaches I surf at. Make sure, again that the just usual surfer rules just watch the beaches and things that you that you surf, make you sure you know them. But I also like to make sure that I eat well and sleep well the night before. And you know that the people I am surfing with obviously know about the epilepsy and know what to do. But yeah, I am pretty safe so. Nothing, nothing has happened in the sea. So that is good. There’s always seem to be more limitations than what there are when you look into it.

Things like riding my bike, it’s the only way I can get around really. I could walk but I like riding bikes, I’ve always been into bicycles and repairing and all sorts. So at the end of the day that’s one thing that I think to myself, ‘yeah okay I shouldn’t be riding a bike but, I’d probably do more damage to myself, standing next to a table than I would going down the road on me bike and having one’, which has happened a couple of times. And I’ve found myself to have less damage, less bruises, less cuts than I have had in other situations which you would’ve thought to be a safer environment. I had a lot more cuts and bruises and things like that so in a way you have to sort of turn around and say, ‘Oh yeah, yeah, it’s a case’ but if I was to sit there worried about health and safety and issues like that all the time I’d just be constantly paranoid you know. It’s making jokes of it and just basically saying, ‘Yeah it’s an issue but hey’ – not only keeps me going but makes me live life a bit better, I think.