Purple Day

Silly in purple for a great cause

March 26th was Purple Day which is dedicated to increasing awareness about epilepsy.

DID YOU KNOW?
1 in every 100 people has epilepsy?
The cause of 50% of epilepsy cases is unknown?

What is epilepsy?
Epilepsy is a condition of the brain that is characterized by recurrent seizures. Approximately one in ten people will experience at least one seizure during a lifetime. A single seizure, however, is not epilepsy. Epilepsy is a condition that is defined by multiple seizures.

What is a seizure?
A seizure is a brief, abnormal, excessive surge of electrical activity in the brain that produces a sometimes noticeable change in behavior. There are many different types of seizures, which may reflect the area from which the seizure begins (seizure focus) and the pattern in which the abnormal electrical discharge spreads through the brain.

How can I help if I see someone have a seizure?

This was my first time participating in "Purple Day".  Over the last year epilepsy has become a common term and topic in our family.  It started last school year when Anthony's teacher taught the students about it and even had them enter a poster contest.  I think she has done that yearly.  Mrs. Kelly's daughter has epilepsy.  Last year it had become some-what uncontrollable where as previously it was pretty controlled by medication.  So S was in our daily prayers as was the whole Kelly family as they rode the new path of how to treat S since her medications weren't effective.  For them they used a new very restrictive diet.  Now a year later, still on that diet S is successfully attending a wonderful college away from home and the seizures appear under control and S is in control of her life not epilepsy!  God works, God moves, God helps!
Our knowledge of seizures and epilepsy increased this summer when my (foster) sister B started having seizures.  Her mom also has them.  B's life turned a bit sideways as the seizures happened even to the point she couldn't continue working.  Jayna witnessed this first hand as she adores spending time at Aunt B's house.
This year Jayna has Mrs. Kelly so she is also learning about epilepsy at school.  Aunt B has been on Jayna's prayer request list both at school and at Adventure club, where Mrs. Melanie had the kids write down prayer requests and follow the progress of answered prayers!  I think Aunt B is not on about day 95 seizure free which is BY FAR her longest stent since they began in June.  More answered prayers!

We know others with epilepsy too, but these two are the two who impacted my kids personally the most.  Please don't be offended if your name isn't in this blog and you are an epilepsy warrior.

For purple day of course we wore purple in support of our loved ones and to raise awareness.

It got even better at the kids school, Desmond T. Doss Christian Academy.... and I'm rather positive it caught Mrs. Kelly off guard and a very welcome surprise to see so many of her fellow teachers and students wear purple too!

It got even more amazing at our small private school.  I am not certain on the headcount of students but I think it's near 80.  Mrs. Kelly, Miss Denise and my mom baked purple iced cupcakes along with some specialty cupcakes made by a friend of Mrs. Kelly.  As a fundraiser, we sold the purple cupcakes for $1 each and the specialty ones for $2 each.  I was able to join in on the purple day excitement helping Mrs. Kelly sell the cupcakes.  I was quite happy it was my day off, no better way to spend it than volunteering at my kids school and getting to help support an amazing teacher, for this cause.  We raised $110 through cupcake sales.  this money will be donated to the Anita Kaufmann Foundation to help those living with epilepsy.