HAVE you ever had one of those phone calls? The kind you will always be able to recall with complete clarity because it was the start of something that changed everything?

Mine came on March 31, 2008. It’s an easy date to remember because it was the day before my husband’s 50th birthday, but I doubt I’d ever forget it even without that prompt.

I was asleep after a late shift at work when the phone rang, but was immediately jolted fully awake. Something had happened to my daughter while she was at school. She was on her way to a hospital in an ambulance. She might have had a seizure but they weren’t sure.

I don’t remember the 15-mile drive so well but we arrived at A&E to find Rosie in a semi-conscious and confused state. She was 11 at the time. She remained like this for several worrying hours before she had what I was instantly able to recognise as a tonic-clonic seizure – I had seen my father have them.

But what had caused it? An emergency MRI and attempted lumbar puncture gave little in the way of answers, other than it wasn’t a brain tumour or haemorrhage. That night, we left Rosie asleep in hospital cuddling a small toy cat I had managed to buy in the hospital shop, while antibiotic and antiviral drugs were pumped into her veins. When we returned the next day, the drip had gone. Rosie had had an EEG (electroencephalogram), which looks at electrical activity in the brain. Her recordings were abnormal.

Rosie had epilepsy, a neurological condition that affects about 54,000 Scots, I was later to learn. I know lots of stats now, such as the fact only 70 per cent of those who take anti-epilepsy drugs are seizure-free. The other 30 per cent is an awful lot of people, Rosie among them, unfortunately. Meanwhile, the drugs, in many cases, come with side-effects that interfere greatly with daily life.

So why am I writing about this today? Tomorrow, March 26, is the annual international Purple Day for Epilepsy Awareness and I am looking forward to wearing the brilliant purple tartan ribbon that Epilepsy Scotland have produced this year.

One of the messages the charity has been promoting recently is that “epilepsy is more than seizures”, and it an important one. People with epilepsy are much more at risk of mental health issues such as depression and anxiety than the general population. Seizures and drugs can cause memory loss. Stigma is still a major issue, as is a lack of understanding of the condition. People with epilepsy – and their loved ones – also live with the knowledge that they are more at risk of dying prematurely, although this is rare.

Over the nine years since Rosie’s diagnosis, there have been a number of frustrations for us when it comes to accessing support in education and an acceptable level of health care.

I would very much like to see the Scottish Government to pay more heed to the needs of those with epilepsy, but the shortcomings in our NHS pale in comparison to the attacks on people with disabilities and long-term health conditions being mounted by the Tories at Westminster. In 2014, my final, absolute decision to vote Yes came quite late in the day. This time, there will be no hesitation, for multiple reasons, but definitely with the needs of those with disabilities in mind.

Many people with epilepsy work, but many others rely on benefits such as Employment Support Allowance and or Disability Living Allowance/Personal Independence Payment, which are among the Tories’ targets. What is the future for the health service in their hands?

In Scotland, we have some protection because health is devolved but will it be enough in the long term? I don’t want to live in a country where people with disabilities or long-term health conditions cannot access care and medication because they cannot afford to pay for it, or end upon the streets because there is no welfare system to support them. While I have been writing this, my son, who has Asperger’s syndrome, has had his ESA stopped. Cut off dead with one phone call, after he failed to amass enough points at his work capability assessment.

We have to get out of this uncaring Union, and the sooner the better.

More information about epilepsy can be found on the website of Epilepsy Scotland, which is a non-political charity. You can support its work by texting PRPL17 £5 to 70070.