enCouraging Epilepsy Awareness

Each year on March 26th, people in dozens of countries around the world can be seen wearing purple in support of Purple Day, or Epilepsy Awareness Day. Epilepsy is a condition of the brain that is characterized by recurrent seizures and is one of the most common chronic neurological disorders. An estimated 50 million people worldwide have epilepsy; that’s approximately one percent of the general population. To some, one percent may not seem like very much, but to the families affected by this condition it’s everything, because it includes them and their loved ones. These families try lots of different routes to help their loved ones manage epilepsy, from searching around for the most effective cbd oil 500mg to help ease the seizures, to having a VNS surgically installed that alerts the individual when they are having a seizure. I suppose that most people are sceptical of using cbd and cannabidiol products to help ease epilepsy, as it is still not known how much medical cannabis can do to help ease the suffering that epilepsy victims face daily. There are edibles, available at https://mikroedibles.com/wholesale/, that a lot of people have suggested can help to treat epilepsy as well. If medical cannabis is something that you’ve looked into but you’re not sure on how to proceed, it might be in your best wishes to look for medical cannabis near me to see if this something you would like to try.

One of our enCourage moms, Jean, knows first-hand what it’s like to have a child with epilepsy. Jean’s son, Michael, is a 7-year-old lover of life, who suffers from a long list of life-altering conditions, including epilepsy, hypotonia, lung insufficiency, global delay, external hydrocephalus, torticollis, and scoliosis. This little boy loves his life though and despite suffering from conditions that are considered rare, he just keeps on going. We can at least have some hope that there are treatments out that can help him (e.g. treatments available at the Scoliosis Institute), so there is some hope.

“When Michael was about four months old, we observed jerks and twitching that seemed to increase over time. Our doctors diagnosed him with acid reflux. We went home and tried our best to settle into a routine with our perfectly normal infant, but the jerks continued, as did the twitching. It slowly became clear to my husband and me that something more was happening… What we discovered in our local hospital was that Michael had the brain activity of an epileptic,” Jean shared.

“For Michael, his life has been filled with drug cocktails of almost every anticonvulsant on the market, sometimes as much as 16 teaspoons per day of any one drug. It has been a frustrating time made bearable only by the resilience and sheer joy we see in our son’s eyes every waking moment.” Jean describes her son Mikey as, “always with a smile.” For individuals with epilepsy, each diagnosis and journey is different, but for Mikey, “he continues to defeat unsurmountable odds and navigate his way through life with sheer will and determination, ducking every hard ball life throws at him.”

As one of our New Jersey families, Jean, Mikey, and their family of six have enjoyed New Jersey Devils games through our Escapes program, allowing them to escape from Mikey’s medical hardships, even if it’s just for an evening. While epilepsy may only affect one percent of the population, enCourage Kids’ mission supports one-hundred percent of families who share experiences similar to Mikey’s. Join us on March 26th as we wear purple for Purple Day and contribute to raising awareness for epilepsy worldwide.