Storm Brock joined the Canadian Armed Forces shortly after high school, enrolling as a combat engineer and later serving as a vehicle technician.
It was a dream job that took the young Ottawa man to the Northwest Territories, the Yukon and Alberta, fostering friendships and a community that have outlasted his time in the military.
But just one year into his service, while posted to the 5th Canadian Division Support Base Gagetown, Brock had a seizure. He said he woke up in the hospital not knowing where he was, his age, or his roommate standing at his bedside.
According to Brock, this was the beginning of a series of persistent seizures that would eventually force his medical release and turn into a years-long battle with Veterans Affairs.
Brock’s seizures would often leave him crumpled on the ground with convulsions, loss of breath and consciousness. Unable to drive a vehicle or, more important, hold a weapon, it became clear his career choice was no longer viable.
“I think it was about 12 seizures before they started thinking about the release of me,” said Brock, now 26. “Within the Canadian Armed Forces … you have to be able to do a combat role at all times, so it really gave them no option but to release me.”
Brock’s five years with the military may have been limited, but his long battle with Veterans Affairs Canada has surprised him.
A disability benefit for PTSD related to incidents during his service in the military has been approved. But the department has denied his disability claim for epilepsy, which Brock said would entitle him to coverage for his $500 monthly anti-seizure medications.
Veteran in 2-year battle for epilepsy coverage
He is appealing the decision and said the resulting barrage of paperwork and medical forms for his doctors to fill out has trapped him in a never-ending cycle for the past two years.
“Veterans Affairs is honestly just the biggest headache I think I’ve ever run into,” he said.
Nearly one out of 100 Canadians lives with epilepsy, which is considered two or more seizures more than 24 hours apart.
And according to the Public Health Agency of Canada, about half of those people have no identifiable cause. This is the case with Brock.
But according to the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., there are several things that don’t cause epilepsy but may trigger seizures in people who have epilepsy. They include flashing lights, lack of sleep, stress, dehydration and skipped meals.
Brock said military candidates undergo extensive medical tests before joining, and in his case, there was no history of seizures that might disqualify him for benefits.
CBC News tried to interview someone at Veterans Affairs Canada about Brock’s frustrations, but the request was declined. In a statement, spokesperson Josh Bueckert said “reducing processing times for disability benefit applications continues to be a priority.”
“Over the last ten years, the disability benefits program has experienced a 92% increase in applications,” he said. “We have made great progress recently in reducing these processing times, but there is still more work to be done.”
The department is currently implementing a multi-year modernization effort, he said, which should speed up decision making and provide a more consistent experience for veterans.
Reducing processing times is one of the issues that Canada’s veterans ombud has been raising for years.
Last month, Ombud Nishika Jardine, a retired colonel, spoke of her concerns before a Senate subcommittee, and also questioned Veterans Affairs’ lack of communication, and why its website is “impossible to manage.”
“The most common complaint we have is around treatment benefits,” Jardine told the committee. “That’s when your doctor prescribes something, and the department says, ‘No, we don’t agree, and we’re going to deny that.’”
Her office conducted an investigation into the department’s internal review process in 2025.
Jardine said it found the reasons provided by first and second-level appeals units often did not meet the requirements for fair reasons set out by the Supreme Court of Canada.
Many decisions were issued in form letters that didn’t address veterans’ concerns, she said.
Brock’s wife, Michelle Roy-Brock, who routinely applies for grants through her work with a non-profit, said dealing with Veterans Affairs is like nothing she’s ever encountered. She said there is a revolving door of case managers and what she calls bad advice.
Instead of trying to help and support veterans, Roy-Brock contends that Veterans Affairs seems to find ways to make everything more difficult.
“At the end of the day, they should just be taking care of their veterans,” she said. “It’s not about making the process as complicated as possible. It’s about keeping people alive, especially people who served our country and who gave up everything for them.”
“He has a condition that is known to be triggered by stress, by sleep deprivation, from physical activity,” she said. “They have admitted that PTSD was caused by his service … but they won’t admit that they’ve caused some seizures.”
Over the past two years, she said, they have been paying out of pocket to have doctors fill out forms for Veterans Affairs, only to recently be told that “the appeal process is actually done through another bureau” called the Bureau of Pension Advocates.
“Veterans Affairs had been sending me wrong information this whole time,” she said. “We basically have to restart from scratch with new forms, new letters, new statements.”
Meanwhile, the seizures continue, often in clusters every six weeks. During those clusters, Brock can have up to 20 seizures in one day.
Roy-Brock said it can be a challenge to keep him safe and to protect their young child from the violently debilitating scene that often unfolds.
“Almost every seizure that he has, he turns completely blue from aspirating and not getting oxygen,” she said. “And it’s terrifying to see, and you wonder if this is going to be the last one.”
Brock said he has had no choice but to proceed with the anti-seizure medications and pay for them out of pocket. If his seizures can’t be controlled with medication, the next step is brain surgery.
Either way, Brock is eager to find a solution that will let him close his chapter with the Canadian Armed Forces and allow him to make a fresh start in a new career.
