LOUISVILLE, Ky. — For kids and their families, being diagnosed with a pediatric neurological issue can be very scary. However, one Kentucky man is helping ease their fears, because their care is personal to him.
Jason Cox is a neurodiagnostic technologist with Norton Children’s Neuroscience Institute. He knows what his patients are going through very well.
He began having seizures when he was in the second grade and was diagnosed with epilepsy. He was treated in the same hospital he works in now, among other hospitals.
Cox helps patients undergoing tests like electroencephalograms, the same testing he required as a child.
On his head, Cox proudly wears a scar from the two brain surgeries he underwent. He says it’s a conversation piece with children and their families.
“I’ll get asked about mine a lot and I’ll just tell them my experience,” Cox explained. “I think it helps with the family and I think it helps with the patient.”
Cox’s outcome after undergoing two surgeries was a positive one.
“I’m able to live alone. I have my own place,” he said. “Luckily, mine aren’t long seizures. They’re just very short, and then I’ve had them long enough to where I’m pretty much able to go back to my daily activities.”
For patients’ parents, like Jennifer Cox from Clarkson, Kentucky, it’s comforting to hear a success story. Her daughter also has epilepsy, and Jason treated her during a stay to figure out where in her brain the seizures are coming from.
“To know how he succeeded, it meant so much to us to have somebody doing it that has been there and done that, and knows how we’re feeling, and knows exactly her pain,” Jennifer said. “Whenever you’ve got somebody good like Jason, you know, you’re allowed to cut up, laugh and it makes it better. You know, it takes a good-hearted person to do what he does.”
The neurodiagnostic technologist says positivity plays a big role in both his job and his own life.
“The thing I’ve always said is, ‘There’s nothing you can do about it.’ I just always had a positive attitude, and I try to bring that with the kids today,” he said. “You know, I just made the best of it, educate everybody, keep the positive attitude. You have no idea how much a positive attitude can help. I think you get better quicker that way.”
Jason has worked with Norton Healthcare for nearly two decades. He’s been working exclusively with kids at Norton Children’s Hospital for nearly five years.
He says he’s excited for Norton Children’s Hospital t open its new Epilepsy Monitoring Unit later this year, which will provide an even better diagnostic experience for kids.