TULSA, Okla. — Zoe O'Hearn enrolled in her first college course in August of 2022 at just 13 years old.
By then, she was already academically a tenth grader, skipping grade levels as she craved a more rigorous curriculum.
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Three months later, she had her first seizure, and it changed her life forever.
“I was diagnosed with epilepsy in 2022," she said. "My first seizure wasn’t expected. It was early in the morning. I scared my brother with it because he thought I was being weird, and he didn't like it."
That first episode was the jumping-off point. Zoe said from there, countless doctor visits, tests, and experimenting with medication in hopes of making the seizures more predictable ensued.
“For the longest time, it was hard for me to mentally deal with it," she said. “I almost just have to like move along. Trust that these medications and my support will be there and that God will take care of me, and so going through the day, as I said, there’s always that fear, but I just have to trust in the people around me that they’ll care for me no matter what.”
In her case, there are no tell-tale signs or symptoms to let Zoe or her caretakers know that a seizure is coming on, making things even more frustrating for her and her family.
Zoe's perseverance didn't skip a beat through her medical journey. As she worked to figure out what this diagnosis meant for her life, she poured more and more into her studies.
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Through Oklahoma Virtual Charter Academy, Zoe was able to take a multitude of classes and get ahead. So much so that she was on track to graduate at 15, but her mother chose to stagger her credits to hold her back a year.
“Once I started with OVCA, I had a lot more opportunities," said Zoe. "I worked really closely with my counselor. She helped me every step of the way to get into these college classes. By doing these college classes, I was able to not only get the credit for college, but also for high school, so I wasn’t taking double classes.”
Two and a half years since that diagnosis, Zoe is getting ready to graduate high school and enroll at Oklahoma Christian University in the fall. She's majoring in gaming and animation and minoring in creative writing and music.
Those were Zoe's passions, but they quickly morphed into her way of survival.
“I like creating stories along with my art," said Zoe. "I have so many characters and so many worlds so the creative writing just kind of came with that and I really do enjoy almost like living in those worlds because it is a great outlet to kind of distract from reality and all these things I have to deal with so it’s almost like a break, being in those worlds.”
The flexibility of virtual classes allowed Zoe to take advantage of all of the academic opportunities she wanted while also prioritizing her health when she needed to.
“Once I was diagnosed with epilepsy, I was like 'Oh man, this is a lot more than I once thought,'" said Zoe. "Through those struggles, I was unsure what to do, but once I got into the flow of things, I think some people underestimate us. Some people are like Oh, they have this, they can’t do this and it’s like Well, I’m going to do it anyway.”
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