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As a former member of the Young People's Choir of New York City, Scott Mannis, 22, has always been passionate about two things -- singing and excelling at academics. But sudden falling spells that seemed to come out of nowhere temporarily put some of his ambitions on hold.

"One performance we were stepping off of the risers and all of the sudden I got the sensation. I felt disoriented and I didn't quite know where my left leg was," Mannis said.

Over a period of time, the spells got worse occurring up to 40 times a day. And for more than three years not a single doctor could tell him or his family what it was.

"He would be walking down the street and just fall flat on his face and be immobile for a few seconds even if he was conscious. And people were telling him it was all in his head. I couldn't believe that given where we are with all the medical advances and technology advances that there was no diagnosis. And I knew there was something wrong," said Scott's mother, Robin Stern.

It turns out Mannis is one of more than three million Americans with epilepsy, a brain disorder characterized by repeated, unprovoked seizures.

Doctors at the Columbia Comprehensive Epilepsy Center at New York Presbyterian Hospital were the ones who finally diagnosed him. They say epilepsy is one of the least understood diseases in medicine.

"There are so many misconceptions about epilepsy. People don't talk about it like they do many conditions. They have the wrong idea," said Dr. Carl Bazil of the Columbia Comprehensive Epilepsy Center. "There are a lot of doctors out there who don't know the full spectrum of what's available to people with epilepsy. And I think there are a significant number of doctors who tend not to refer patients when they should be."

"There are these official statements put out that patients should be referred to for video EEG monitoring or for an epilepsy center when they've had seizures for a year or longer or when they're not controlled after two medication trials. Yet when we last looked at our data, it's taking much longer than that for people to get into our center or to get their monitoring to number one, prove they have epilepsy and number two, to consider things such as surgery and devices and other treatments," said Dr. Lawrence Hirsch of the Columbia Comprehensive Epilepsy Center.

With proper medication, Scott's seizures are now well-controlled. But that's not the case for most people living with epilepsy.

Doctors at Columbia are hoping to change that, hosting their Sixth Annual Epilepsy Awareness Day on Saturday, November 7th, followed by a gala fundraiser.