'I hope I've opened people's eyes:' Patient with severe epilepsy ends sit-in at Vancouver General Hospital

As a young woman with severe epilepsy, Tavia Marlatt is used to tough battles.

At any moment, her brain can betray her — erupting into a raging electrical storm of misfiring signals that can cause up to 50 seizures a day.

The worst could kill her if she's not put on her side to avoid choking.

But Marlatt's mind is finally able to rest easy on one front: The Langley, B.C., woman appears to have won her fight with Fraser Health over home care.

Marlatt, 22, has ended her sit-in at Vancouver General Hospital (VGH), on the promise funding will be found to keep her with her family, rather than be placed in institutional care.

"I'm leaving in good faith," said Marlatt, clutching her possessions: a pillow and her teddy bear.

Refused to leave

She entered the hospital's seizure monitoring clinic March 27. But after eight days of assessment, she balked at returning to her family's Langley home until a care plan was put in place.

She moved into a bed in VGH's neurology ward and refused to leave.

The funding pledge ending her sit-in was made at a meeting on Friday between her mother Renee, and officials from Vancouver Coastal Health — which is responsible for VGH — and Fraser Health, the health region where the family lives.

Marlatt's main battle has been with Fraser Health, which she says turned down her family's request for emergency funding to pay for in-home care.

Without help, Marlatt's mother Renee, a trained special-needs caregiver, would have been forced to take unpaid leave from work.

The other options offered by Fraser Health — either place Marlatt in a group home, or into an institution — were unacceptable to the family.

'Peace of mind'

Now, Fraser Health has confirmed it's looking at other options.

"We continue to listen to and have ongoing, respectful conversations with the family in order to find the best path to the most appropriate care," the health authority said in a statement to CBC News.

It confirmed it met with the family on Friday "to work on a plan to support the patient's needs with expanded care options."

Renee Marlatt says the expanded care options include funding support at home Monday to Friday from 8 a.m. until 3 p.m., so she can continue to work and know her daughter is being cared for.

"To be able to, at the very least, just be able to go to work and know that Tavia is safe is indescribable. I haven't ever experienced that before," said Renee, 42. "I think that peace of mind is going to be huge."

'Money is not for our family to benefit'

Her daughter wants to make it clear: Her sit-in was never about getting cash for her care.

"It costs [taxpayers] even more money for me to live with somebody else, than to live with just my mom," Tavia said.

"[And] that funding doesn't go to my mom … it means that we will hire somebody to stay with me. I think people need to understand the money is not for our family to benefit. It is to help."

Both women say the fight for more funding flexibility has also been fought on behalf of other families, trying to find ways to care for their loved ones.

"I wasn't only doing this for me," Tavia said. "I was doing it for other families out there as well, and hopefully getting Fraser Health to wake up."

'I'm just a little bit in shock'

She also hopes she's raised the profile of epilepsy sufferers, who often slip through the cracks when it comes to fitting into a continuum of care.

"I hope I've opened people's eyes that you don't have to look or act a certain way to be considered disabled," she says.

As for grabbing the attention of two health authorities, the B.C. Health Ministry and the B.C. Epilepsy Society, which came to her aid, Tavia says she's still amazed.

"I'm just a little bit in shock because nobody [normally] listens," Tavia said. "I didn't know that all of this would lead to this."