March 14, 2018 at 4:57 p.m.
Epilepsy Awareness day set for March 26
Epilepsy Awareness day set for March 26
By Kayla Thomason-
Lynne Wakely's son, Eli is 22 years old now, and experiences seizures every day. Eli Wakely has five different types of seizures, drop seizures, absence (staring), tonic (stiffening of arms and legs), myoclonic (sudden head jolts), and tonic-clonic (whole body jolting, formerly called grand mal).
"When explaining seizures to someone, especially young children, it's sometimes easier to tell them having a seizure is like having an electrical storm in your brain - the constant zapping," said Lynne Wakely.
The Wakelys started using the analogy to help Eli's classmates and others understand epilepsy a little easier.
"(Eli) had wonderful teachers, teachers aides, and classmates throughout his years in school," Wakely said. "That helped a lot. This year is for anyone living with epilepsy and their families."
In support of the day, Rhinelander mayor Dick Johns proclaimed March 26 as Epilepsy Awareness Purple Day.
The proclamation gave some facts, explaining that Purple Day is a global effort to raise awareness and that more than 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy. That 1 in 10 people will have a seizure in their lifetime, 1 in 26 will develop epilepsy, it explained what epilepsy is, and he encouraged others to spread awareness and wear purple to show their support.
During the week of March 19 Wakely will be delivering purple ribbons to the schools. She even plans to deliver ribbons and donation buckets - for voluntary donations that will go to the Epilepsy Foundation - to area businesses earlier this month.
Wakely also made little wood block key chains that are approximately 2-to-3 inches long by 1/5 inch or so, and hopes to also get those out to the schools. The blocks are purple with "Be Kind" and the flip side saying "Be a buddy not a bully" on them, and they come with an elastic string so children can attach them to their backpacks. Wakely hopes to hand them out to students in grades K through 5.
The schools will be participating in Purple Day activities Friday, March 23 because the actual day falls on the following Monday, which is the start of spring break in Rhinelander.
Since going out into the community five years ago to inform others about epilepsy, the Wakelys are seeing more awareness about the topic.
"Since then my husband has gotten such a good response from the community," she said. "People who know someone with epilepsy have talked to Bryan about it. People who were afraid to talk about it opened up to Bryan."
When Eli had his first seizure Lynne Wakely thought her son was dying. It was understandably frightening.
A year later the knowledge she had gained through experiencing her son's seizures prepared her to help a stranger.
"About a year later I was in the grocery store with him and an adult woman had a seizure right next to us," Wakely recollected. "She just went down. I went over to her right away. I knew exactly what happened because of Eli. I took a pen out of her hand so she wouldn't hurt herself and stayed by her until someone came along to help. So again, awareness is the key."
For more information or to make a donation to the Epilepsy Foundation visit www.epilepsywisconsin.org.
Kayla Breese may be reached at [email protected].
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