Thank you for your support of this project. Meet Ethan - one of our most recent monitor recipients. We are happy to report that we have now provided 450 life-saving monitors for this in need.
"My heart is overwhelmed with gratitude. Thank you is simply not enough. You have made an enormous difference in the life of our daughter." - Laura - Connecticut
We thought you night be interested in a page we have as we are raising funds for a young girl named Alli and her service dog, Cosmo. Cosmo has just started training and is expected to be working hard for Alli sometime late next year. For more information on Alli and Cosmo, click here.
Many exciting things are happening for The Chelsea Hutchison Foundation. We were just awarded a very large monthly grant through Google Ads which will help us reach more people who need our help, as well as donors who believe in what we do. You will probably be seeing much more about us in the next year! When you have the chance, take a look at our new website
Our 8th Annual STOMP Out Epilepsy and SUDEP Awareness Walk/Run takes place next month in several locations across the United States. If you are interested in seeing those locations, please check out Chelsea's STOMP. Even if you are not near one of our locations, you can show your support by becoming a virtual walker and receiving one of our branded STOMP tshirts!
Last month, we awarded 11 families with wish trips to Disneyland. This brings the number of families granted wish trips to 41. This project, fondly called Chelsea's Wish, brings families from across the United States to Epilepsy Awarness Day and Expo at Disneyland each November. Many families dealing with the stresses of epilepsy and seizures are exhausted, both emotionally and financially. Many of our families are single-parent or one-income families because of the care needed. They deserve a break! The Chelsea Hutchison Foundation grants comfort and hope!
As always, we truly appreciate your support. When you support our projects, your donated dollars go directly into helping those in need and not salaries.
Thanks to you and others just like you, we have had the privilege of providing 420 life-saving movement monitors to those in need across the United States. You might wonder why we provid these, believing insurance should cover them. You are correct, insurance SHOULD cover them, but sadly they don't. They are not FDA approved due to the size of these companies that produce the monitors and the red tape and expense with doing so. This fact keeps them from being on the radars of many medical professionals as well. Way too many families learn of these monitors after it is too late - much like our family. We receive messages weekly from family who have these monitors in place who believe because they were notified of a night-time seizure, they were able to intervene and their loved ones survived. Our family truly believe that if we had known to monitor Chelsea, and had the opportunity to attend to her, our outcome might be different. Most SUDEP (Sudden Unexpected Deaths in Epilepsy) losses are unwitnessed and unattended. Can you imagine the lives that are saved daily by these amazing monitoring devices?
Enjoy see the faces of just a few of our most recent monitor recipients.
"Your SAMi-Alert Monitor literally saved my daughter's life. I was sound asleep. My daughter had a very bad tonic clonic seizure. We no longer have her seizure medication due to insurance, so she is having 100's of seizures a day, staying in bed most of the time and sleeping. When her alarm when off and woke me up, she was purple by the time I got upstairs to her. She had aspirated and was not breathing." Claude F. - Tennessee
"Thank you and everyone that donates their time and efforts. We have a piece of mind when our daughter goes places now and it is thanks to you guys." Emily L. - Utah
"Thank you so much for the SmartWatch. My freedom is extremely important to me and for those that don't know my story, it'll keep my son and I together instead of apart. You guys have truly been a blessing in my life. This epileptic momma can be a mom to her kid with this by my side!" Samantha C. - Florida
In addition to our Global Giving projects, we raise funds year around through several events. Last month we held our 8th Annual Spring Gala Casino Royale Gala that proved to be a record breaker for us. We host Chelsea's Bingo in Aurora, Colorado on Sunday and Thursday evenings each week. It is a big job, but has proven to be a great fundraising tool for us. Epilepsy Awareness Day at Elitch Gardens take place in Denver on June 3. Also happening that day is the Purple Duck Chase. Anyone anywhere can sponsor ducks for $5 each or 5 for $20. Join in the fun!
Our 8th Annual STOMP Out Epilepsy and SUDEP Awareness Walks take place this September. For more information and locations nearby, click on the link.
Every year, through Chelsea's Wish, a project within The Chelsea Hutchison Foundation, we sponsor families who deal with the impact of seizures and epilepsy to participate in Epilepsy Awareness Expo and Day at Disneyland. To date, we've provided 27 families with all-expense paid trips to particpate. This year our goal is to send 10 families and we are currently accepting nominations. To contribute to this wonderful event that brings an isolated community together, please click here. For more information on qualifications and how to nominate your family, please go Chelsea's Wish
Thank you for your continued support of this wonderful project. We wanted to give you an update on all that is going on at The Chelsea Hutchison Foundation.
Night-time movement monitoring devices save lives – no question. While there are no guarantees, obviously, we hear reports from families on a regular basis that supports our beliefs. Parents and caregivers breath a sigh of relief knowing there is a line of defense in place in the prevention of SUDEP - an acronym for Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy. To date, we have provided 412 monitors across the United States. We thought you'd enjoy seeing the faces of some of most recent monitor recipients.
"Thank you, thank you, thank you, a million times over! Something told me to leave the monitor up by me tonight. I realized I hadn't heard a breath I looked and his face was twitching all over the place. I caught a seizure before the alarm even did!"
"There are not enough words to express the millions of Thanks! We received our Sami today. Thank you so very much for this amazing SamiAlert."
We have many exciting events coming up this year. Our spring gala takes place in the Denver Metro area on April 22, 2017. The evening will be filled with good food, good friends, wonderful auctions and entertainment by Colorado Casino Nights and Spinphony Electric Strings. For more information, visit Casino Royale Gala 2017
On June 3, 2017, the 2nd Annual Epilepsy Awareness Day at Elitch Gardens will take place. This event offers highly discounted admission tickets for those who wish to attend. We will paint this park with purple to raise some awareness and create community for those who feel so isolated living with an epilepsy diagnosis. We will also be holding the 2nd Annual Purple Duck Chase in Elitch Gardens Lazy River. Sponsor ducks from anywhere for a chance to win some wonderful prizes.
The 8th Annual STOMP Out Epilepsy and SUDEP Awareness Walk will take place in September. Stay tuned for a number of locations across the United States. If you aren't near one of our organized STOMPS, you can register as a virtual walker and STOMP in your own community. We will have more details in our next update.
This past November, The Chelsea Hutchison Foundation hosted 7 families to attend the 4th Annual Epilepsy Awareness Day at Disneyland and the one-of-a-kind Epilepsy Expo. The Expo offers a wealth of information - exposure to professionals, treatment options, education, and hope. That alone is invaluable to these families - to have all of this available to them, in one place. There is so much information under one roof - it's amazing! Many times in their daily lives dealing with a child living with Epilepsy, there is such isolation - and not only for the parents - but the kids as well. Our Disney families meet and instantly bond with the other families who understand the struggles, the fear, the endless search for answers. If you are interested in donating to this program we fondly call Chelsea's Wish, please click here for more information. This event is life-changing for those who attend.
Here are links to other fundraising pages we currently have on GlobalGiving.org. Please take a moment and check them out.
Weighted Blankets for Epilepsy Patients
As always, thank you for your continued support! Chelsea's work is reaching new levels and we are grateful to you for helping us!
We are so lucky to have your support. Please accept a huge “Thank you!” from all of us at The Chelsea Hutchison Foundation (“CHF”) for your generous support. Your contribution has played an essential part in providing life-saving, hope-sustaining support to families across the country!
Thanks to the generosity of donors like you, 391 families are sleeping a little better knowing there is a line of defense in place, watching their loved one while they sleep. Chelsea passed away in her sleep during the middle of the night and we, as her family, believe if we had known to monitor her at night, we may have had the opportunity to save her life.
Enjoy seeing the faces of our most recent monitor recipients.
The Chelsea Hutchison Foundation grants comfort and hope to those affected by epilepsy through providing monitoring resources, vital information, and a safe haven for conversation and community.
Our main goal is to raise awareness of SUDEP and to make a positive difference in the lives of individuals and families living with epilepsy.
We raise funds to provide education about SUDEP and to provide seizure response dog grants and movement monitors that help to protect against SUDEP.
We stay up-to-date on current trends in medical technology in order to be able to provide the most effective devices as they become available.
We respect the value and quality of life of every person living with epilepsy.
We are dedicated to providing opportunities that allow individuals and families greater independence, increased confidence, ability to enjoy social environments, and community understanding.
Here are links to our other project on Globalgiving.org. We hope you will take a moment to check them out.
Your gift to the Chelsea Hutchison Foundation has kept us going on our mission to bring comfort and hope to individuals and families for whom struggling with epilepsy is a daily reality, and has allowed us to give relief directly to those who need it most. We are grateful, truly.
Warmly,
We wanted to update you on this project. This is an ongoing project as we receive 10-15 requests a month from families who are desperate for a night's sleep. Since we started providing monitors to those in need in 2010, we have had the priviledge of providing 363 across the US, some in Canada and even one in Australia. We currently have eight families in line to receive them as funds arrive.
So many of our families are sleep deprived, afraid they might miss a loved one's seizure while sleeping. These monitors provide families with a line of defense in preventing SUDEP (Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy) and allow for some sleep at night. Epilepsy affects over 3 million Americans of all ages. Almost 500 new cases of epilepsy are diagnosed every day and it is estimated that up to 50,000 Americans die from seizures and seizure-related causes every year in the United States.
"Without my SAMiAlert Monitor, my son may not even have his diagnosis. The symptoms we saw were too vague to call seizures. We suspected nocturnal seizures for a long time, but could not prove he was actually having them. When we finally learned about movement monitors, we obtained one immediately. After hooking it up, within a few days, we had several seizures recorded of various types."
"We knew our daughter was having a lot of seizures, so we were blessed with a monitor through The Chelsea Hutchison Foundation. We did not know until we received the monitor that she was having multiple seizures every night right around the same time."
We appreciate your support more than we can express in words! We have a few other Globalgiving projects we'd like to share with you.
Epilepsy Awareness Day at Disneyland
A Seizure-Response Service Dog for Zachary
A Seizure-Response Service Dog for Parker
Project Reports on GlobalGiving are posted directly to globalgiving.org by Project Leaders as they are completed, generally every 3-4 months. To protect the integrity of these documents, GlobalGiving does not alter them; therefore you may find some language or formatting issues.
If you donate to this project or have donated to this project, you will get an e-mail when this project posts a report. You can also subscribe for reports via e-mail without donating.
We'll only email you new reports and updates about this project.
