News
The Origin of Purple Day- International Epilepsy Awareness Day
Purple Day falls on 26th March each year and is a globally observed epilepsy awareness date. The day was created in 2008 by Cassidy Megan in Canada, then aged 9.
Sadly, Cassidy found that her experience of epilepsy made her feel isolated and that epilepsy was often misunderstood. Impressively, at her young age, she galvanized the global epilepsy community to increase awareness of the common but often misunderstood condition. Since its inception, Purple Day has grown and 85 countries now participate!
Cassidy’s original aims remain at the heart of the awareness day. Purple Day seeks to dispel myths, reduce stigma and provide assurance to people who live with epilepsy.
Why Purple?
Cleverly, Cassidy also gave colour to a non visible condition. She chose purple partly because it was her favourite colour, but it was also already the colour chosen to represent epilepsy. It is thought that purple is used to represent epilepsy due to the historical use of lavender in the ‘treatment’ of seizures. Before medication, lavender was used to soothe people experiencing seizures or when recovering from a postictal state.
Celebrating Purple Day At The Meath
With a purple dress day and purple cupcakes at The Hive, lots of the people we support are excited to take part!
The Skills Centre are displaying a selection of epilepsy inspired works which have been created by the people we support. Meanwhile our Life Skills group are holding a session about epilepsy and Purple Day.
Raising Awareness in the Community
Meath supporter and Mayor of Waverley, Cllr Penny Rivers is proudly lighting purple Godalming’s landmark Pepperpot building. We are grateful for this support with raising awareness of epilepsy in our local community.
We are also proud to share a selection of Alice in Wonderland inspired works at Godalming Train Station. Together, with information about The Meath, epilepsy and author Lewis Carroll, we hope to raise awareness of both epilepsy and the work of The Meath among commuters.
Reflecting on Living with Complex Epilepsy
We love the opportunity to celebrate! While Purple Day offers the people we support a fun way to help raise awareness of epilepsy, it’s also an opportunity to reflect. The people we support live with complex epilepsy, many have drug resistant epilepsy and rare forms of epilepsy. Despite being supported 24/7 to live as safely and as independently as possible, the people we support navigate many daily challenges due to their epilepsy.
Find out more about EpilepsyLiving with Epilepsy – Some quotes from the people we support
” My seizures make me feel sad.”
“I feel tired after having a seizure. Sometimes my seizures make me miss out on things.”
“I take medicine but I still have seizures.”
“Without my medication, I wouldn’t have the life I have. I take 62 pills every day but still usually have 12 seizures every day. It’s a lot to handle, but my staff support me lots.”
