On Wednesday June 15th, Phil was invited to give an epilepsy awareness and education presentation at the Okeanos Research Centre, which is part of the University of the Azores. A serendipitous street encounter with Verónica Neves, PhD, a seabirdologist at Okeanos, led to this wonderful event. Verónica had been unable to attend our event at Peter Cafe Sport but recognized Phil as they passed each other after dinner. She quickly put together this presentation in a matter of days.

Approximately 40 people attended in person and a few more via the live feed on Zoom. Phil spoke about his journey with epilepsy and how he took One More Step towards living a fuller life by sailing from Fort Lauderdale to Horta. He distributed seizure first aid flyers in both Portuguese and English, as well as invited those in attendance to take the One More Step Challenge. By the end of the talk, the audience passed the quiz: 1 in 26 will develop epilepsy in their lifetime.

Phil enjoyed speaking with audience members after the presentation and is looking forward to seeing a Sail For Epilepsy flag flown from one of the Okeanos research vessels. Our thanks to all who joined us at this event and especially to Verónica and Beatrix for their efforts in hosting us!