March 26, 2014 at 1:34 p.m.
RHS students wear purple for epilepsy awareness
RHS students wear purple for epilepsy awareness
By Kayla Thomason-
Lynne Wakely, a mother whose son has an acute form of Lennox-Gastaut syndrome, brought Purple Day to the school's attention.
"I thought it would be neat to put it throughout the schools and community as much as possible," Wakely said.
Homeroom teachers have been sharing facts about epilepsy with the students since March 17 and the word to wear purple was spread throughout the entire school district.
"One of the handouts one day went out that talked about 'did you know that Paul Schaffer from the 'Late Night Show with David Letterman' has epilepsy and was the first guest in the campaign?'" said Shelley Lehman, a teacher at RHS.
Some people with epilepsy can go on the Ketogenic diet, a high-fat, low-carb diet that can lessen the severity of episodes. After two or three years on the diet some people can become seizure free or reduce their medications, others can't. Medical supervision is required to start the diet.
Lynne's son Eli Wakely is a junior at RHS. She said he has one seizure every night. He has been on the diet for 10 years and it has helped him function better.
"One in 100 people epilepsy affects, it is not contagious, it is not a psychological disorder, it is the second most common neurological disorder after migraine, most people with epilepsy lead normal lives, and what we want to stress too is it's nothing to be made fun of," Lynne Wakely said. "It is a very serious disorder and we just want people to know it is OK and it is OK to help someone that has epilepsy."
Purple bracelets with the words epilepsywisconsin.org on them were sold for a dollar throughout the day. The proceeds from the bracelet sales will go to an epilepsy foundation.
"I think it just helps because students know that we have certain students that have seizures and to help understand what it's about," Lehman said. "Sometimes things that you don't understand you fear and this helps create awareness and lessen that fear of what happens with some of our students with epilepsy."
Teachers culled facts from www.purpleday.org, an informative website about epilepsy.
"[The website] just gave such an easy explanation of epilepsy and that this young girl at nine years old started this Purple Day because of her concerns and embarrassment about [having epilepsy] and whatnot and she just wanted people to be more aware of it so we will continue to do this every year," Wakely said.
For more information on epilepsy, visit www.purpleday.org.
Kayla Breese may be reached at [email protected].
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