Her day begins before sunrise with an exercise regimen only an athlete of her caliber could sustain. A goalie on the USA Women’s Hockey team, Chanda Gunn is no stranger to self-discipline or to facing challenges others would consider obstacles. As a female athlete with temporal lobe epilepsy, Chanda Gunn faces each day with a zest for life and the determination to live each day to its fullest.

A Day in the Life

While most are still asleep, Chanda Gunn awakens at 4:30 a.m. and rides her bicycle 6 miles to the Golden West track in her hometown of Huntington Beach, California. For two hours she does sprint and agility/conditioning exercises. She then goes to the ice rink where her coach will work with her for an hour on the ice. Once she and her coach have finished their work for the day, she goes to the gym and does her workout routine for four hours. By 1 p.m. Gunn is done with her training and is ready to bike a half mile to her job as an ice hockey coach for children. When asked if her energy level is affected by the seizure medication she takes daily Gunn said, “I’m not really sure since I’ve been on medication since I was nine years old. I don’t really remember not being on medication, so I have nothing to compare it to.”

The Early Years

When Gunn was in fourth grade she had her first seizure. “I was pretty scared at first mostly because my parents were really upset and I felt as if I had done something wrong. I didn’t understand what was really going on. I remember my Mom crying and I kept saying, I’ll be good Mom, I promise.” Yet as time progressed Gunn began to see her seizures as an integral part of her life as well as something she herself was not responsible for.

The College Years

It wasn’t until Gunn went away to college that her seizures would present her with one of her greatest challenges. As a freshman at the University of Wisconsin, Gunn started having multiple seizures on a daily basis. “Up until that point I had been on the same dosage of medication since I was nine, which obviously was not high enough given the fact that I had grown since I was nine and my weight had increased. As a result. I had to be hospitalized so that my doctor could tweak my medication type and dosage.”

After her seizures were better controlled Gunn was ready to take her place as a sophomore on the Wisconsin Women’s Hockey team, but her coach had other plans. “My coach decided against having me back because of my seizures. No one at the University knew that I had epilepsy because I didn’t put it on my application. I simply thought it was under control and for lack of better words, I just didn’t know any better.” Gunn believes she learned a valuable lesson from her experience at Wisconsin because now she says, “I think it is important to be upfront about your epilepsy. I think you’ll find that people are a lot more supportive than they are critical.”

Awards and Accolades

Throughout her college career Gunn has received numerous awards. In fact, she is the first player ever to be named a finalist for both the Patty Kazmaier Award for the nation's best women's college hockey player and the Humanitarian Award for college hockey's finest citizen. Most recently she was awarded the Honda Inspiration Award.

She was also invited to be apart of the Team USA roster for the 2003 World Championships scheduled to be held in Beijing, China. Unfortunately, she was unable to attend (as was the rest of the team) due to the SARS outbreak. Gunn’s next big event is the US Olympic Festival in Lake Placid, NY August 15-23. Ultimately, Gunn hopes to participate in the 2006 Olympics as well as use her degree in Athletic training to work with Para Olympic athletes.

As a person with epilepsy Gunn believes it is important for people with epilepsy to support one another and maintains that, “There’s no reason why a person with epilepsy can’t play sports or pursue their dreams.” She admits to being afraid at first of playing ice hockey because of the potential for having a seizure while on the ice. But, she says, “I’ve learned to live with it, the fear of the unknown, because I want to really live life and for me living means playing ice hockey.” She advises people with epilepsy to live their lives to the fullest while quoting Paul Cantalupo MD, “Love absolutely everything that ever happens in your life.”

For more information about Chanda Gunn please go to www.gonu.com/whockey/gunn.shtml.