Purple Day 2023
Giving the keynote address at the 4th Annual Purple Day for Epilepsy Awareness Around the World Expo Celebrated annually on March 26, Epilepsy Awareness Day, or Purple Day, was created to increase the public’s understanding of this brain disorder and to eliminate the fear and stigma surrounding it. Yesterday, I had the privilege to give …
Epilepsy Stigma: Ignorance, Prejudice, Discrimination
Phil during recovery from his head injury In my life with epilepsy it has been rare that I have experienced discrimination about my disease. I suffered my head accident which caused my epilepsy when I was 15. Back at school it was business as usual, except that with high doses of phenobarbital I often slept …
Welcome Aboard, Virtual Shipmates!
This spring, we invited people with epilepsy to join our crew as Virtual Shipmates by participating in our One More Step Challenge. We asked, “Are you able to do something to improve your quality of life? Can you take one extra step to do something you haven’t done before, with the necessary safety measures in place?” …
Richie Shane
Richie Shane started having seizures soon after he finished college. After over 3000 seizures and unsuccessfully trying to control them through medication, he underwent 2 surgeries and has been completely cured. His quality of life has been significantly improved and he embraces this opportunity to live his life to the fullest. https://youtu.be/MV144n3qCgQ Richie Shane Richie's …
Cassandra Lund, Healthcare Professional
You cannot control what happens to you in life, but you can control how you respond to it. I started having seizures when I was a freshman in college. These are complex partial seizures, which occur with no warning, last a few minutes and leave me confused and with no memory of what happened. Needless …
Finding a Reliable Mechanic and the Right Tool to Fix Your Brain
Why do people with epilepsy respond to different medications while others are unable to find a medication that controls their seizures? It’s a fascinating question and the answer lies in a combination of three variables: i) there are many different forms of epilepsyii) there are many different causes of epilepsy, and as a consequence iii) each medication is tailored …
Trudy Robinson, sailor
Sailing with Ali Like many others, I was not born with epilepsy. I had my first seizure when I was 17 during my senior year of high school. My three best girlfriends and I decided to go up to the Boston Museum of Science for the day. While we were there we went to a …
Chanda Gunn, Epilepsy Foundation New England
Chanda Gunn is an accomplished ice hockey player known for overcoming obstacles on and off the rink. When she was nine, she was diagnosed with having both absence and grand mal seizures which were controlled with medication. Unfortunately, she experienced a series of tonic-clonic seizures and had to drop out of college to regain control …
Bacon, Mayonnaise and Avocados: Good for the Epileptic Brain?
Source: Epilepsy.com There is more and more interest in the use of a diet to control epilepsy that is not controlled by currently prescribed medications. But this is not a new idea: if we roll back the clock, the first reports of diet affecting seizures were made ~500B.C.. In the early 1900s, the use of diet to control …
Did You Know That There are Many Types of Epilepsy?
When someone says the word “seizure”, what do you think of? Does the idea make you feel anxious or scared? Many people think that seizures only come in one form, those in which the person loses consciousness, falling to the floor with muscle contractions that cause them to jerk and shake. Previously called grand mal …
The One More Step Challenge: Are you able to take one extra step to do something you haven’t done before, with the necessary safety measures in place?
Celebrate our global community of Virtual Shipmates who joined the One More Step Challenges on a personal voyage towards living a fuller life.
The Sail For Epilepsy voyages, skippered by a person with epilepsy, offer an example of living a fuller life. View the latest updates, photos, and videos sent in from the boat.