Epilepsy Awareness This Halloween.

When I was a freshmen in high school, I remember a boy in my History class falling out of his desk onto the floor. His body was jerking, he was making funny grunt sounds and after a few seconds his face started to droop to one side. It wasn't long before the EMTs arrived and we all watched as they took him away on a stretcher. I didn't know it at the time, but I had just witnessed a seizure.

Epilepsy is something I've never really been aware of. I mean, I knew what epilepsy was. I just wasn't clear on how severe epilepsy could be. I never knew that over 2 million Americans are living with epilepsy. I never knew that epilepsy was hard to control. And I never knew that missing a dose of medication with an epileptic patient could be life threatening...

Until my son was diagnosed with Intractable Epilepsy.

In the last eight months, I have discovered that I am not the only person who lacked knowledge on epilepsy. I've had pharmacist who didn't understand how crucial it was that my son get his refills before his medicine ran out. Friends who have actually said to me, "It's just seizures. It's not like he's autistic." My husband has co workers who just don't get what the big deal is when he leaves work without permission because our son has been seizing for over an hour. And it's not that these people are insensitive, because a year ago, I was the same way. A year ago, I didn't understand epilepsy. I wasn't aware of what epileptic patients go through or how hard it is on their families.

So, I'm asking my readers to help raise awareness for Epilepsy this Halloween by decorating their pumpkins PURPLE! I saw this idea on Angels4Epilepsy's facebook and just couldn't resist sharing.



If you do paint a pumpkin purple, I'd love to see a photo of it, so post it in a comment or email it to me at xtinabailey@gmail.com. I look forward to seeing what everyone comes up with and thank everyone who participates in showing their support in raising awareness for Epilepsy!