A FIGHT IT HAS BEEN - A Letter from Danny Cooksey

Danny, Amber, and Zöe

Dear Friends,

With Father’s Day upon us, I have been thinking a lot about family, and how thankful I am to have my daughter and wife both present in my life. I am especially grateful for the research efforts that have made this possible.

Recently you may have read ETP=Hope “Amber’s Story”. She is a wife and a mother and has long suffered from epilepsy. My name is Danny Cooksey and she is my wife. We met 15 years ago, fell in love, and have made a wonderful family. Before I met Amber all I knew about epilepsy was from after-school specials I watched when I was younger. Fifteen years later, it is sad to say, but for most people that is still the case. As I have told my family’s story to people, I always get the same response; “I didn’t know that it was that serious” or “I thought that there are medicines that cured that.” Epilepsy when left unchecked is a potentially deadly disorder that affects everyone that is close to it. It affects every aspect of our lives and the minute-to-minute running of it.

Over the last 15 years I have watched my wife go through times of sickness that I cannot even describe. For those close to someone plagued by this disease you understand the helplessness of what I am saying. Watching someone you love suffer and to have no control over the situation is a very scary thing. It is hard for me to understand what my wife must go through, as it is hard for her to understand what it must be like on my side. We have seen countless trips to emergency rooms, endless doctors’ appointments and many medicines and their side effects over the course of our fight. And a fight it has been.

There have been times when we have grown complacent, given up and just thought that this is a good as it gets. This is the hand that we have been dealt. We have actually been told that by doctors who exhausted their area of specialty and then just put their hands in the air. Where do you go from there? What can you do? Well, we were lucky to have come across the Epilepsy Therapy Project, who told us that it is not only unacceptable to live a life on eggshells, but that this is not as good as it gets.

Until recently Amber’s seizures have been daily and uncontrollable and a difficult struggle for our family. For years we have exhausted word of mouth referrals, the internet and every other avenue we could go down to try and get help. The Epilepsy Therapy Project finally gave us some hope. They have given us a light at the end of the tunnel. With their help, I am happy to say my wife is not having multiple daily seizures. She is able to be present in our lives, and in turn we have been able to be present in her life. There are 50 million people worldwide who suffer daily from epilepsy. Factor in their Families: Husbands, Wives, Sons and Daughters, and you can see the scope of the problem we face.

ETP is fighting to accelerate treatments for those just fighting to cope.

Please help in any way you can. Your donations make a difference not only to those that suffer from epilepsy, but also to the families and friends that love them.

Thank you for your time,
Danny Cooksey

BIOGRAPHY
DANNY COOKSEY

Danny Cooksey currently stars as the ruthless older brother, Brad, in Disney XD's 2-D animated original series "Kick Buttowski - Suburban Daredevil."  And is also working on other animated series that haven’t been released yet, and keeps busy in his role as Crackle for “Rice Krispies” and other popular voices for television and radio commercials.

Cooksey got his big break in 1984, when he was cast in a role on the popular television series "Diff'rent Strokes," playing Dixie Carter's son, Sam McKinney. Since then, he has continued to act in numerous television series such as the cult classic “ Salute Your Shorts”, playing the infamous Budnick and countless more shows and characters. He has also been in many feature films including playing John Connor's friend, Tim, in the movie "Terminator 2: Judgment Day."  A highly regarded voice-over actor, Cooksey has provided the voice for such memorable characters as Dave the Barbarian in the animated series of the same name, Milo Kamalani in "Pepper Ann", Jack Spicer in “Xiaolin Showdown” and Montana Max in "Tiny Toon Adventures” and many more successful cartoons and animated series.

Also an accomplished musician, Cooksey heads up the alternative rock band Arbuckle as the band's lead singer. He was also the lead singer for the popular band Bad 4 Good, who was released by Interscope Records in the early 90’s.

Born in Moore, Oklahoma, Cooksey currently resides in Los Angeles with his long time wife Amber and daughter Zoe.