Teen Beauty Queen Has Seizure Onstage, Still Finishes Pageant

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Hannah Enge finished the beauty pageant she was competing in — even after suffering from an onstage seizure. (Image courtesy of Facebook/Hannah Enge)

Teenager Hannah Enge’s first beauty pageant didn’t end exactly as she had hoped. Instead of a flawless finish, Enge, 16, suffered a mid-sentence seizure during her onstage interview for the Miss Teen Minnesota Pageant. But while it was certainly scary, it didn’t stop her from finishing the pageant like she had intended. In fact, instead of going to the hospital following the episode, Enge chose to get back up and finish off the interview. Talk about resilience!

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After recovering, Hannah continued her onstage speech, saying, “That was one of my many seizures. This is what I’ve been facing for the last four years. Any change of emotion, this is what happens to me. I want to speak for those who can’t speak. Those who don’t have the opportunity like I have right here. I ignited my spark, thank you.”

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(Image courtesy of Inside Edition)

Over the past several years, Enge has had as many as 30 seizures in one day — caused by two concussions that occurred just a week apart when she was 12, leaving her with a permanent brain injury, Fox News reports. Although the quantity of seizures that Hannah experiences has greatly reduced (this was the first one in a month), she’s still susceptible to ones triggered by intense emotions — in this case, most likely stress or nerves.

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When asked about why she decided to finish the pageant, Hannah told Inside Edition, “This is what I deal with every day of my life, and if I don’t decide to get back up, I’m going to just stay down, and I don’t want to stay down.” As it turns out, getting back up and completing the pageant was a great decision for the teen: Hannah, who finished with poise and grace, was awarded the title of 2nd runner up.

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