October 4th, 2016
A letter from one of our parents about supporting others:
October 4, 2016
Dear community members,
Our community is such a wonderful one. We help each other even when we don’t know each other personally. As parents and educators, we teach acceptance and kindness. We join forces to raise awareness and support one another.
That is where I need your help….
Both my children have Epilepsy and both of them have different symptoms and triggers. Hayleigh is 16 and was diagnosed at 12. She has grand mal seizures but has everything under control with medication. Her seizures were very large and scary…the kind you learn about and know are happening. Jaykob is 7. He is a fellow student of Jean Steckle. His seizures are not the kind you really learn about. More of a partial syndrome and they look more like miniature strokes. He is alert and can tell you what is happening.
Some facts:
- Epilepsy is a physical condition characterized by sudden, brief changes in how the brain works. It is a symptom of a neurological disorder – a disorder that affects the brain and shows itself in the form of seizures.
- Epilepsy is a disorder, not a disease; it is not contagious
- Each day in Canada, an average of 42 people learn that they have epilepsy. Each year an average of 15,500 people learn they have epilepsy; 44% are diagnosed before the age of 5, 55% before the age of 10, 75-85% before age 18 and 1% of children will have recurrent seizures before age 14. 1.3% are over the age of 60. This means that about 60% of new patients are young children and senior citizens.
Events that may trigger seizures include: stress, poor nutrition, flickering lights, skipping meals, illness, fever and allergies, lack of sleep, emotions such as anger, worry, fear and others, heat and/or humidity.
- The major form of treatment is long-term drug therapy. Drugs are not a cure and can have numerous, sometimes severe, side effects.
Jaykob has taken a liking to running. He has joined me in numerous races the last few years and has raised funds for many charities. Recently he raced a 5k in Toronto for Youth Mental Health. Out of 360 boys aged up to and including 10 years of age he placed 57th!! Amazing right. In August he raced in Kitchener for Kids with Cancer. He placed 4th out of 24 boys 9 and under!!
So now it’s my turn to run for the people in my life!
Hamilton regional Epilepsy foundation contacted me to see if I would consider running as part of their team at the Toronto Scotiabank Half Marathon on October 16th. BIG YES! I am registered to run the half marathon (21.1 kilometers) and Jaykob will be running the 5K race that same day. We need as much support as we can get!
I recently learned this: “every small act adds up to a big deal”. I work at Unitron and we raise funds as a company to provide Hearing Ear Dogs to people across Canada. So the 2.00 a pay that we all donate has added up to provide 7 dogs over the last 8 years. Each dog costs 20000.00. So while I felt my 104.00 a year didn’t make a big difference…when we all make that small step it makes a huge difference.
Thank you for helping me help these two. Any donation, big or small, can make a difference in the lives of the children in our community.
You can donate by following this link:
https://secure.e2rm.com/registrant/FundraisingPage.aspx?registrationID=3546636&langPref=en-CA
Thank you for your support,
Sandi Swan