He loves sports. In football he likes the Dallas Cowboys, and the Sooners.

He is working on his family history but he could use some help in case any Matz or Fadenrecht people are out there doing theirs and would like to collaberate.

Darrin was born in Weatherford Oklahoma, 24 July 1971. He now works in Clinton Oklahoma.

My husband has epilepsy. Darrin had an operation in 1996.

He takes medication three times a day, he loves chocolate but it reacts badly with his meds so he doesn't eat it. He does eat lots of sweets and chips. He told me he is a peach freak. I couldn't tell because he seldom buys them, he said they are too expensive.(yes he's tight with the money)so I suggested that we buy a peach tree and grow our own. This year the tree is producing. We were both surprised but pleased. We will have to learn how to can so we can keep the surplus all year long which is the whole point of growing our own.

The tree produced about a dozen peaches that matured, the neighbor kids wanted to help Darrin eat them. After he finished his peaches he asked me when there would be more. I was sad to have to tell him it would be next growing season. But he really enjoyed having peaches that he could just go out and pick when he wanted one.

He needs more sleep than I do because of the medication he is taking. If he doesn't get enough sleep his body has jerking and they are not under his control. Therefore I am awake later than he is.

We noticed a sentence in a book printed by the drug companies about epilepsy, "epilepsy is not retardation." This is a quote from the book. I would very much like for people to know retardation is a completely different thing. Darrin is very smart.

I have seen him have one seizure. I didn't panic and he was fine but I had read the literature and I know what to do. In Darrin's case his epilepsy is under control, the seizures were caused by experimentation with dosages.

Darrin had the brain surgery. In many cases the surgery eliminates the seizures, in Darrin's case it simply made the seizures completely controlable with appropriate dosages of medications. He is currently on Neurontin and Tegretol or Carbatrol. He takes these three times a day. We still do all the same things others do. We just take his meds with us where ever we go. He does not need to be reminded to take them, the has been taking them since he was 4 years old, or other prescriptions.

He has told me the trigger is stress. But since the surgery the stressors that would have triggered seizures in him don't. In one instance he was laid off permanently from a job he had for 9 years. This should have triggered a seizure. He was very upset but I comforted him and there was no seizure. We found him a new job and he is doing well.

Darrin is very quiet. Some times he doesn't speak for days he simply has nothing to say. Many people think he is retarded because he says so little but he is just a quiet man. He communicates in body language most of the time. Sometimes I don't get it. Darrin says his biggest frustration about having epilepsy is not being able to drive, he values independence, mostly because he has rarely had any.

It really isn't a chore to live with him. The biggest adjustment is that he is left handed, sometimes he does things upside-down and backwards from what I would do, I don't complain, I just notice it.

He is extremely bashful and he doesn't trust easily. He makes friends slowly. He laughs easily but one must not mistake his laughter for agreement.

The longer I am married to Darrin the more he opens up to me. I am sure others will think that is quite normal but it has been an interesting revelation to me.

Darrin doesn't take very much for granted. He is more ready for family obligations now than he was. By family obligations, I mean, doing things his family wants him to do. Like attend weddings, funerals, visit ill relatives and such. He enjoys work. He enjoys fun and is good at both.

We have tried to have children but between his medical problems and my age, we have not been able to keep a pregnancy. I have had three miscarriages, two of the pregnancies were twins.

We both love children and he would be a great Dad. We have thought of both fostering and adopting. The house we currently live in is not in good enough shape to pass a "home inspection" from any agency so we have not completed any of those application processes yet.

However a private adoption would work for us. If we just knew of someone who didn't want to keep her child but wanted a good home for her baby, we would be willing to adopt one or more children. If there is a single parent out there with a terminal illness who needs a place for her children to go. We are willing to adopt a family too.

Darrin's Callings

Home Teacher

Stake Missionary

Assistant Clerk