Ebony Dillard’s journey is one of faith, resilience and defying the odds. From the beginning, life seemed unfair. Born in Las Vegas, her struggles started at just five months old when she contracted bacterial meningitis from a bad batch of the pertussis vaccine. Doctors warned her mother that the fever had severely damaged her brain, leaving her unlikely to ever see, hear or walk. But Dillard proved them wrong.
As a child, she tried not to dwell on what made her different. That changed in third grade when she began having seizures. One moment, she was in class; the next, she was in the nurse’s office unaware of how she got there. Doctors conducted test after test, prescribing countless medications, but no answers emerged. At nine, a neurologist delivered a harsh prognosis; she would never be able to drive, and alcohol, drugs or pregnancy would kill her. His bluntness enraged her mother, but Dillard took his words to heart. Coming from a family with generational addiction, she saw it as a warning. Fear kept her away from risky choices and possibly saved her life.
Growing up in the projects, Dillard lived in the midst of a violent drug turf war. The alley behind her home was known as Crack Alley. By thirteen, she had witnessed more death than most see in a lifetime. Statistically, she had an 80% chance of ending up dead, in jail, addicted or exploited. But Dillard found strength through her faith in God with the help of her mom and a youth group she attended.
At fifteen, Dillard met a neurologist who offered something new, hope. That led her to UCLA’s Seizure Disorder Center where she underwent three years of testing before doctors determined she was a candidate for brain surgery. They removed part of her left temporal lobe, and for three years, she was seizure-free. Then, she had one final episode, a sign, doctors said, that her brain was finishing its healing process. In 2007, her seizures stopped completely.
Looking back, she no longer resents God for the struggles she endured. Instead, she sees how He used her pain to break the generational cycles that had plagued her family. Through it all, He was working, even when she didn’t realize it.
In 2017, Dillard faced a loss unlike any other when her mother passed away. The grief sent her into a deep depression. She had always leaned on her mother’s strength, and now she had to find her own. By what she calls God’s grace, she had reconnected with her sister, Lynn, a year before. Lynn encouraged her to visit South Carolina, a suggestion she dismissed. But in 2018, while spreading her mother’s ashes, Dillard reluctantly stopped in Aiken and that changed everything.
Lynn suggested she apply for a job, and, on a whim, she did. The process of getting her physical therapy license, one that should have taken months, took only two weeks. She interviewed on July 5 and was hired three days later on July 8. Her plan to move over a two year span quickly changed to two months.
Adjusting to a slower-paced life was difficult, but Dillard knew God had led her there for a reason. Today, she is married to a loving husband, works her dream job and is launching a licensed and patent-pending medical device she invented through the VA that is designed to help people with lower extremity weakness be able to walk safely.
Her favorite Bible verse continues to guide her: “Call unto me and I will answer you and show you great and unsearchable things you do not know.” (Jeremiah 33:3). Looking at her life now, she believes that every struggle was preparing her for something greater.
“Call unto me and I will answer you and show you great and unsearchable things you do not know.”