Wear it Purple on 26th March and support Epilepsy sufferers around the world

Will you be wearing purple on 26th March? Good for you!

Breaking the stigma and widening the research of the various spectrum’s of epilepsy is so crucial.  The complexity of the human brain renders this ‘ailment’ to often be a tricky one to manage and its effects are felt by sufferers and their families in all emotional, mental, social and physical levels of health.

So many more people are affected than you think. Epilepsy can strike out of the blue at any time to anyone.

Fifty million people around the world have epilepsy, a common serious neurological condition where there is a tendency to have seizures that start in the brain. This is around 1 in 100 people. Anyone can develop epilepsy, it happens in all ages, races and social classes. Epilepsy is most commonly diagnosed in children and people over 65 and in 50% of cases the cause is unknown.

There are over 40 types of epilepsy, so just knowing that a person ‘has epilepsy’ does not tell you very much about their epilepsy and the type of seizures they have.

There are lots of different types of seizures. Seizures are divided into two main types: focal seizures (also called partial seizures) and generalised seizures. Epileptic seizures always start in the brain. Find out more about the different types of  epileptic seizures.

So please take time out on 26th March to pledge your support by wearing purple!

Lets break the stigma.

You can also donate to the Epilipsy Society online or text ESOC14 and the amount (e.g £5, £3 or £1) to 70070 or show your support on Twitter by tweeting the official Purple Day Tweet: "On March 26, I'm wearing PURPLE to support EPILEPSY AWARENESS. Visit http://www.purpleday.org to learn more. #PurpleDay".