Zoё was one of two daughters. She had her first seizure when she was 12, at home with her immediate family around her. It was quite a shock to us all as there was no history of epilepsy in the family and no warning that this might happen. Zoё went through her school years learning to live with the occasional seizures and getting her medication more finely tuned. She was never totally free from them but over the course of time she got to know the triggers which for her were lack of sleep and stress as well as forgetting to take the medication of course. After school she did a foundation course in art which was a talent that she had developed from quite young. It would have been possible for her to take this further but she chose instead to do a degree in psychology at Birmingham. This she completed successfully and then thought that a career in clinical psychology might be for her so she set about gaining the necessary experience to enable her to gain admission to a post-graduate course. It was whilst building up her experience that she discovered what was to become her vocation. Returning to the Midlands she joined a project called Skills for Life. It was run by a housing association with the aim of helping adults with learning difficulties lead more independent lives. At first she was a volunteer for a short term, which was extended and then she became a paid member of staff on a short contract, finally to become the leader of the project on a permanent basis. Zoё was a determined character and she was not going to let her disability dictate what she could do. Her one time boyfriend had decided he wanted to go travelling and so she thought she would take leave from her work and join him as he journeyed across North Africa, through the Middle East and onto the Far East. She first met up with him for parts of the North African stage and then on a more full-time basis in India. She had a great time and kept us reasonably posted as to how things were going. At one stage we were quite alarmed as she had been alone for some days whilst her boyfriend had gone off trekking in Nepal and had a seizure in a cafe and as luck would have it, one of the people there just happened to be a neurologist and took her to the local hospital. Thankfully this was not whilst she had been white water rafting. In all she was away for 6 months and then she spent a further year living in Spain with this boyfriend. The relationship broke up and she came back to England and to her old job in Wolverhampton. She was welcomed back with open arms and it was not much longer after this that she had progressed from just being one of the staff to heading the unit. She did an MA in Intellectual Impairment whilst holding down this job and gained a huge amount of confidence in what she was doing professionally. The unit was going from strength to strength and gaining a good reputation in the area and beyond. By this time Zoё had met her life partner and they were living happily together doing mountain biking and camping amongst other things. She still had a love for travelling and took the opportunity to travel with a girl friend to Uganda and Zanzibar. She was about to go to Brazil a few weeks after she died. In October 2012, Zoё came down to London to stay with us. She was planning to go shopping for a wedding dress for her sister. She had come alone as her partner had not found the prospect of dress shopping enticing enough. She died during the night. I had gone to give her a morning cup of tea and found her apparently fast asleep. I had touched her arm to see if she was awake but she didn’t stir and also felt very cold. I thought nothing more of it as her arm had been exposed and she was always a great sleeper. An hour later, she hadn’t moved and she was still cold even though I had covered her. We rang for an ambulance and they talked us through how to resuscitate her but I knew in my head that it was in vain. The ambulance crew arrived quickly and took over but it was obvious there was no more that could be done. Because of the nature of Zoё’s death there had to be an inquest which finally took place within days before Christmas. We were not sure what to expect. We were however impressed enormously by the care and concern taken not only by the coroner himself but also by the pathologist. His very detailed and technical report was presented to the court in very understandable layman’s terms. We had actually brought a good friend who is a retired consultant in case we needed some help with the report but whilst he was useful we didn’t really need him. Everyone there was so kind, including the police officers who had attended on the day. We had been warned by the clerk that the death certificate might record accidental death but in fact SUDEP was recorded. Our coroner had met with Zoё’s consultant based in Birmingham and had discussed this outcome in detail. We were assured by the pathologist that even had Paul, her partner, been with her there was no likelihood it would have made any difference. That gave us some comfort. It was hugely sad that a truly loving person had had her middle years and old age taken away from her. But she had packed so much into her life and had won the respect of her work-mates, students and employers and also her friends and family. She was in many ways the rock of our family. She was always so calm and sensible and had the right words to resolve a problem. She had wanted to be buried so we found a woodland burial site in Shropshire, near to her home, her work and in the countryside she loved. It was a simple burial with just close friends and family present but was followed by a most wonderful event in Bilston Town Hall. The venue was packed and friends and family read out their eulogies to Zoё to a background of slides of her from childhood to the present day and music from her gifted friends. It was a most moving day and made her parents so proud of the effect she had had on so many people’s lives, including theirs.