Thanks for taking the time to visit my JustGiving page.

I'm running in the September 2023 Great North Run for Action Epilepsy, a charity particularly close to my heart. There are 600,000 people with Epilepsy living in the UK, around one in every 100 people.

I would like to raise awareness for every person who has Epilepsy, cares for someone with Epilepsy, or simply extend knowledge that could be life changing to others around them.

About me:

At the age of 10 I was diagnosed with Juvenile Absence Epilepsy. Following that I was sent for EEG scans and tried various medications many which had bad side effects until finally a drug called Epilim (Sodium Valporate) worked. Leading into my adult years, Doctors attempted to change my medication due to side effects on new born children if still using this medication at the time of pregnancy. Unfortunately, no alternative medications have worked and I now use Epilim again which works great for me everyday and seizure free since September 2019.

Everybody’s Epilepsy is unique but the restrictions to daily living are all together very common. For example, My epilepsy prevents me from driving a car, or can be difficult for me to do certain sports, for me it was my running at one point (lots of ruined leggings after ripping the knees out of each leg from falling down along with calls to my emergency contacts from a paramedic or passer by each time saying "Now don't worry but i'm here with Sam"... Running took a back seat for a while.) These are common activities that most people take for granted.

Epilepsy is a frustrating medical condition. Just when you think it’s under control it can come back without any warning leaving you dependant on others. The impacts of a person having epilepsy are wide-reaching and affect the individual, their families, friends, and colleagues. This is something I didn't share with many people around me for years in fear of being judged, wanting to do the same as everyone else, really I should have made people aware incase anything did happen - and if anyone did react differently then that is shame on them, I realise that now.

Day in, day out the Action Epilepsy provide essential support to thousands and thousands of people like myself and running the Great North Run is just a small way I can give back and allow them to continue supporting others that find themselves in the same situation.

If you can support this charity please do and thank you for reading my story.

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