Evan Moss, a 7-year-old boy with epilepsy from the Alexandria area of Fairfax County, has written a book. He hopes to raise $13,000, to purchase a seizure dog to help him survive his seizures. (TOM JACKMAN/THE WASHINGTON POST)There is much about 7-year-old Evan Moss that is not exceptional. He is in constant motion. He can speak endlessly about Pokemon. He thinks the cartoon “Phineas and Ferb” is, “like, hilarious.”
But Evan Moss also has epilepsy and suffers from severe, possibly life-threatening seizures. And when he found out that there was a type of specially trained dog that can detect seizures and act to help him, Evan had the idea to write a book to help raise the $13,000 needed to buy such a dog.
So then he wrote and illustrated “My Seizure Dog,” now available onAmazon.com. He will have his first book-signing at a Fairfax County coffee shop Sunday, and there just might be a large crowd there.
And that is exceptional.
In addition, the experience spurred his parents, Rob and Lisa Moss, to create the Seizure Tracker Web site, a free and innovative way for epileptics (and now other disease sufferers) to record and share the times and amounts of medications and events. The site has 8,000 registered users worldwide.
Evan lives with his parents and 9-year-old sister Aria in the Virginia Hills neighborhood, just off Telegraph Road in the Alexandria section of Fairfax County. He is a rising second-grader at Rose Hill Elementary School, and he has been dealing with epileptic seizures since he was an infant. The seizures are now so severe, his mother said, that, “Really, this dog is going to be a life-saver.”
Below is a superb short film about Evan by Peter von Elling, and after is more about Evan’s path to literary stardom:
At one point, Evan was having 300 to 400 short seizures a month due to tuberous sclerosis complex, his parents said. Brain surgery, at age 4, stopped those seizures. Then, much longer and more serious seizures began about two years ago, the kind that require serious medication and sometimes emergency medical response.
But Evan seems completely undaunted. He had a seizure Friday morning, just hours before meeting me. He showed no signs of it, though his mother said he had taken medication that would have knocked out the rest of us.
The Mosses educated themselves about epilepsy, and in addition to creating a Web site that continues to expand and invite sharing of data and treatment, Lisa Moss is now on the board of directors of theEpilepsy Foundation. Rob Moss spends most of his time improving the Web site. “There was nothing out there” before Seizure Tracker, he said. Family friend Bob Kohm said that Rob Moss “locked himself in a basement for a year, and he spends his time constantly making it better.” The site was launched as Evan was going into surgery at age 4, and the next day there were 250 users.
The first published literary creation of Evan Moss, 7. (TOM JACKMAN/THE WASHINGTON POST)In the course of learning about epilepsy, the Mosses discovered “seizure dogs,” specially trained to alert the epileptic if they are sleeping, and to alert the parents if the person needs help. The dogs are trained by 4 Paws for Ability, which costs about $22,000. The organization asks participants to pay $13,000.
And so the literary work “My Seizure Dog,” influenced by such works as Leo Leonni (“Inch by Inch”) and Mary Pope Osborne (“Magic Tree House” series) was born. It is self-published throughCreateSpace.com, and can be purchased there or through Amazon.
“It’s kind of like,” Evan explained, “I had the idea when Mom and Dad told me I was getting a seizure dog and had to pay $13,000. So we decided to sell it to make money, and we’re having a signing at Grounded Coffee,” on Telegraph Road.
Well, that sort of says it all, doesn’t it?
In the book, Evan says, he shows that “the dog will eat pizza with me. If I go to the moon, it will go there with me.” Those are his favorite parts.
“Now that I wrote such a good book,” he added, “I think I’m going to be a famous author. That’s actually my dream.” He said a first-grade class called Writer’s Workshop helped inspire him. In addition to writing, he also wants to be an astronaut and work in a pet supply store.
Epileptic children face the possibility of such things as sudden unexplained death due to epilepsy (SUDEP) or death by suffocation when they have a seizure in their sleep and can’t roll over. Seizure dogs can provide critical help in those moments.
Despite the surgery, and the medications, and the grand mal seizures, “He’s pretty upbeat,” his mother said, and he is not autistic, as many epileptic children are.
“He’s an amazing kid,” said Kohm, whose sons Marcus and Josh are Evan’s best friends. “Evan will just say, ‘I’m going to have a seizure,’ Then when it’s over, go back to doing what he’s doing. It’s just part of the Evan experience. It doesn’t define him.”
Evan’s book-signing is at Grounded Coffee, 6919 Telegraph Rd. in the Alexandria area, from 1 to 3 p.m. Sunday. The book is $10.
To make a donation to help Evan buy his dog, send a check made payable to “4 Paws for Ability” to:
4 Paws for Ability
Fund for Evan Moss
253 Dayton Ave.
Xenia, Ohio 45385
