Children and epilepsy: ‘I saw her shaking aggressively. I’d never seen a seizure in my life’

When Bernie Hart saw her young daughter Áine shake violently, she had no idea it could be epilepsy, one of the most common neurological conditions in Ireland

Áine Hart with her parents Karl and Bernie and her sister Caitlin at home in Frankfield, Cork Picture; Eddie O'Hare

In her 24-year army career, Bernie Hart has been in hostile, difficult environments but she never felt fear until she sat by the hospital bed of her young daughter and grappled with the fact that Áine had epilepsy.

“Epilepsy was a foreign word to me. I was scared. It was something I couldn’t fix. It was the child’s brain. It was something I didn’t know anything about,” says the Douglas-based mum of two.