We’re fundraising for Epilepsy Action this Purple Day to help make sure people with epilepsy continue to get the support they need, when they need it most.

Last year, 5th June, was like any other normal Monday morning. It was the first day back to school after half term.

8:32am. Lyla had her first seizure. Life as we knew it, was about to change in a way we had never even imagined it could.

Lyla continued having seizures for the next few months. Like many, Lyla doesnt get any warning signs before a seizure, so we were just living in a waiting game, never knowing when the next might be or how bad it might be.

Cut forward, after an awful 7 months, the drs managed to get her medication right and her seizures are now well managed so we have had a chance to rebuild and try to make sure she is living her life as a ‘normal’ 10 year old.

Many are not so lucky. Epilepsy does not discriminate. Before her first seizure, Lyla was the picture of health, she had no previous health conditions, she was not unwell, it does not run in the family. Every day 80 people are diagnosed with epilepsy in the Uk, many of these are children.

Lyla has taken her new challenges on in the most positive, resilient way. She doesn’t let it stop her doing things she wants to do, she doesn’t believe that it makes her any different and she isn’t scared to tell people that she has Epilepsy. She said very early on “I’m kind of glad it was me that got it. I know I’ve got a family to help me. I can’t imagine someone else, that doesn’t have a family having it and having to deal with it by themselves”

This is why Lyla decided, rather than let this be a negative thing, she’d turn it into a positive and try and raise some money to support those less fortunate than her 💜

To find out more about Purple Day and the work Epilepsy Action does, visit www.epilepsy.org.uk/purple