By Sara Heredia | Project Contributor
As summer approaches, we have begun making arrangements for the 2022 Epilepsy Awareness Day at Disneyland!!! We are ecstatic to have the Expo be in person this year, and we have now randomly selected 28 families to be awarded with this once-in-a-lifetime trip! After all the changes that came with Covid, families that are facing a new Epilepsy diagnosis alone, or those who have been fighting it for years, get to come together in one area and meet with the leading resources available for Epilepsy at the present time. For many that are thrust into this new and scary diagnosis, they are spending so much time trying to help get seizures under control and understand everything that comes with it, that it can take months (or even years) to find all the resources available to help them cope and live full lives. We provide them access to this informative expo, all major expenses covered, and time to absorb it all. Of course, we don't bring them all the way to Disneyland without giving them a couple days in the parks! They spend much of the week getting to know other families going through similar journeys and be around "others." We are told often by families who attend that that is one of the most powerful aspects of the trip.
One family shared this with us:
Our son (8 year old) had hit a point where he was angry. SO angry that he had seizures, and no one round him did. It was like he noticed overnight that there wasn't none he knew that had them, and he was angry at the world. Going to Disneyland and seeing the sea of purple shirts, I looked at him and told him that every purple shirt meant that either they had seizures, or they were standing next to someone who did. I had always told him that other's do, but it was the first time. Could show him. And as his eyes got big and he looked around, that moment changed everything for him. The anger melted and he knew, without doubting, that he wasn't alone in all this.
Thank you for helping us give this immeasureable gift to those suffering a really hard thing. For the kid's to have fun and acceptance, and for families to have memories and a new wealth of knowledge. Epilepsy is so hard, and we are honored to help with the journey of those we reach. THank you for helping us make this a reality for them.
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