The Spirit Catches You And You Fall Down

A reflective essay
Samantha Johnson
Clayton State University
HLTH 3341

While sitting by the campfire talking about mindless high school gossip with my best
friend, Megans eyes rolled in the back of her head and she dropped over. It was my first
experience with epilepsy and one of the scariest things Ive ever seen. In that exact moment I
knew this wasnt normal and that Megan was not ok. Epilepsy is something Ive researched
before it was a requirement for school. Reading about Lia Lees journey took me back in time to
my first experiences with the disease. When you hear the symptoms of a generalized seizure:
eyes rolling, loss of motor function, muscle cramps, blue nail beds, to name a few, the picture
that appears in your mind is almost as scary as seeing a seizure in person.
My junior year of high school my best friend Megan was diagnosed with Epilepsy. She
would have a seizure at least 1 time a week (mild) at night without fail. They put her on
medications, then took her off medications, put her in therapy, and took away her newly issued
drivers license. If that wasnt enough of a nightmare for a seventeen-year-old, a few months after
Megans diagnosis her parents announced their separation. In little Lias story, her epilepsy was
viewed by her parents as a sort of divine fate caused by soul loss. Megans diagnosis was view
by her American parents as one of the most frightening things that can happen to their child and
was a disorder in her brain.
The Hmong culture consist of very spiritual people and they view a persons sickness in a
total opposite way than American cultures. The books title, The Spirit Catches You And You Fall
Down, means in Hmong culture that a dab or evil spirit steals someone soul and their body
falls to the ground. Hmong culture views epilepsy (translated quag dab peg) happens to people
who are anointed or people who are made to hold office. Many often become shamans or healers,
because they believe epileptics have the power to see things normal people cannot see and it is
their calling. When I first read the title before opening the book, I was completely unaware of

what the book was about. I assumed it consisted religious subject matter. It took me back to a
memory of the first time I went to a Pentecostal service with a friend and people were speaking
in what she called tongues; then someone would come pray over these people and they would
get weak in the knees because of the holy spirit and they would carefully be laid to the floor. This
was the snapshot in my head after reading the title.
When first reading about Lias story I was overcome with so much sympathy for this
little girl and her loving close knit family. Our culture view sickness as something that
immediately needs to be treated with medicine and the sense of doctor knows best is naturally
what we have come to rely on. I hear it all the time, I explain to my mother I do not feel good, or
my foot is hurt and her reply is always, go take some medicine. With Hmong culture sickness
can be something that was deserved or a consequence of some simple action such as, eating the
wrong foods during pregnancy. The doctors in western medicine are taught to treat pain,
sickness, comfort patient, diagnose, and do no harm. With the American doctors and the Hmong
patients, you are comparing two completely different cultures and ways of thinking. The Lees
took Lia to the hospital in hopes of a quick fix such as antibiotics or Tylenol for her symptoms.
The doctors did not see a small Hmong child that just fell down because the dab stole her soul
like the Lees did, they saw a seizing patient whom they had seen in the ER before with parents
that did not speak or understand English and still no translator. Many years of schooling has
doctors what medications to administer and what tests to run for confirming diagnoses. Hmong
culture has taught them that evil spirits can make you ill and different herb, animal sacrifices, or
trix neebs can make your soul return and your illness leave.
Hmong people view family higher than anything else. They stick together and make
many sacrifices to keep family safe and intact. The Lees were no exception to this rule.

Although Lia could be considered the favorite child, they loved and cared for all their children
with great affection. During the story, Lia was on many structured medications in order to reduce
or stop her seizures. This required a strict regimen to be followed by a family who couldnt read,
write, or even understand English. Comparing this to Megan s parents who paid top dollar for
her monthly CAT scans, prescribed medicines, and specialist visits. They respected every
doctors opinion and followed all the instructions by the book. The Lees saw their situation in a
far different way. They believed the many medicines made Lia worse, they did not trust the
doctors, and they believed the doctors did not care for their daughter with love.
Even towards the end after Lia had the big one that ultimately took everything from her
and made her medically brain dead, the Lees took care of Lia with all the love they had given
her the entire time. Many people in the book mentioned how pretty Lia was as a vegetable.
Always clean, skinner than usual so she appeared healthy, hair shiny, and well dressed. Before
this doctors had viewed the Lees as people who didnt care about the well-being of their
daughter, stopping medicine without doctor consent, or administering what dose they thought she
needed to make her feel better faster. Now they saw the Lia as a very well cared for little girl and
only then was it apparent to them how much the Lees deeply loved their children. One passage
that stuck out to me was someone said that if Lia belonged to a white family she would have
been put in a facility to die. Unfortunately, I believe this to be true as well. We rely on
medications to fix everything and when it doesnt sometimes we can give up. The Hmongs sent
trix neebs, sacrificed pigs, bathed her in boiled herbs, and fed her the food they thought she
should have long after the doctors considered her dead because her brain was inactive. Megans
parents continued to follow all the doctors orders and now many years later her seizures are
under control with medication, she has long since regained her driving privileges, she is married,

and her parents are happily remarried. Megans epilepsy cannot compare to the severity of Lias
but it can show how different cultures view disease, medication and physicians.
Working in healthcare this book has been a welcome reminder that every patient has a
story that should be asked about. This story can help determine diagnosis, symptoms, gain trust
with patients or parents, and so much more. It is so important to consider peoples beliefs and
cultures so that you can understand more and overall work together towards the same end goal of
making the patient better. Something as simple as eye contact with the wrong culture can
completely cause your patient to think bad of you or that you are disrespectful. This can cause
them to not believe your treatment or not take it seriously. Also consider the value that we have
instilled in western medicine is how other cultures can feel about their natural healing or
homeopathy.