DeBarra Mayo
Overview
 
DeBarra Mayo is an American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 health and fitness
Physical fitness
Physical fitness comprises two related concepts: general fitness , and specific fitness...

 advocate, writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....

 and media personality. She has epilepsy
Epilepsy
Epilepsy is a common chronic neurological disorder characterized by seizures. These seizures are transient signs and/or symptoms of abnormal, excessive or hypersynchronous neuronal activity in the brain.About 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy, and nearly two out of every three new cases...

, which has led her to a career involved with maintaining and enhancing health. She has written regularly on the subject of health and wellness
Wellness (alternative medicine)
Wellness is generally used to mean a healthy balance of the mind, body and spirit that results in an overall feeling of well-being. It has been used in the context of alternative medicine since Halbert L. Dunn, M.D., began using the phrase high level wellness in the 1950s...

 in books, magazines and newspapers, as well as on radio and television broadcasts. Mayo has been an award winning women's bodybuilder
Bodybuilding
Bodybuilding is a form of body modification involving intensive muscle hypertrophy. An individual who engages in this activity is referred to as a bodybuilder. In competitive and professional bodybuilding, bodybuilders display their physiques to a panel of judges, who assign points based on their...

 and trainer for the West Virginia University
West Virginia University
West Virginia University is a public research university in Morgantown, West Virginia, USA. Other campuses include: West Virginia University at Parkersburg in Parkersburg; West Virginia University Institute of Technology in Montgomery; Potomac State College of West Virginia University in Keyser;...

 football team.
Since childhood, DeBarra Mayo has suffered from neurological symptoms, including loss of muscle control and drop attack
Drop attack
Drop attacks are sudden spontaneous falls while standing or walking, followed by a very swift recovery, within seconds or minutes.-Causes:...

s.
Quotations

To maintain good health requires good nutrition and a healthy dose of exercise.

Erie Times, SportsWeek, March 3, 1986

...when the test results came back, everything went silent. I don't know if it was from pure astonishment or the overwhelming gratitude of finally having an answer, but a lifetime of words all disappeared except for one. Epilepsy.

Living with Epilepsy, Stayhealthy.com, Nov. 9, 1999

 
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