Winners - Ideas Happen 2003

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I never knew how much stigma, as well as misconception and fear, surrounded epilepsy, until my little girl was diagnosed with intractable epilepsy. I want to do my part to help eliminate as many of those negative attributes as I can, and I feel the best way to do this, to help create an environment of acceptance, is through communication and education. It frightens me when emergency room doctors inform me I know more about my daughter’s treatment than they do, and that there are still people who believe people with epilepsy are possessed by the devil (a nurse actually swore she wouldn’t let the devil in while my daughter was in her care), or are unaware of proper seizure first aid. This is why I’ve created a Children’s Outreach Program, to facilitate a way for epilepsy to become more publicly acknowledged and accepted, to help eliminate fear and misconceptions, to promote proper first aid techniques.

The program consists of a series of books that explain epilepsy in terms children can easily understand and discusses the various issues people with epilepsy face including acceptance, disclosure, treatment options, available services, etc; a free mascot program (limited to fifty families the first year) that encourages children to publicly discuss their epilepsy via pre-arranged media interviews; and a puppet show, to be initially promoted in the child’s school with the intention to expand to other areas. An epilepsy telethon is also being arranged.

Please help make this dream a reality.