Wear Purple

In 2008 a special day known as Purple day was created by Cassidy Megan. She was motivated by her own personal struggles with epilepsy. Her goal was to make epilepsy the topic of conversation. She desired to help educated individuals on the truths about the epilepsy and help inform all that would listen that they are not alone. When the Epilepsy association of Nova Scotia joined in the cause the day became popularly known as Purple Day.

There is around 50 million people living with epilepsy around the world. That estimates to be that 1 in every 100 people have epilepsy. More than 300,000 Canadians live with epilepsy and 2.2 million Americans live with epilepsy. 

Epilepsy is not contagious and it is not a disease or psychological disorder. There is no cure for epilepsy but there is help for some that struggle with seizures. Medication can help control the seizures It is possible for some children to outgrow epilepsy and some adults may have spontaneous remission. 

Some seizure triggers can not be identified but some can. Some known seizure triggers include: 

• forgetting or not taking seizure medications
• lack of sleep
• missing meals
• stress, excitement, emotional upset
• menstrual cycle / hormonal changes
• illness or fever
• low seizure medication levels
• medications other than prescribed seizure medications
• flickering lights from computers, televisions, videos, etc... 
• bright sunlight
• street drugs.

There have been many famous people who had or were thought to have epilepsy. The list includes:

Julius Caesar 
Alexander the Great 
Agatha Christie 
Socrates 
Joan of Arc 
Harriet Tubman  
Napoleon Bonaparte 
Vincent Van Gogh 
Charles Dickens 
Richard Burton 
Alfred Nobel 
Thomas Edison

And more recently:

Actor Margaux Hemingway (1955-1996)
Actor Danny Glover
Singer-songwriter Neil Young
Adam Horovitz of the music group Beastie Boys
Mike Skinner from band The Streets
American Olympian Florence Griffith-Joyner, aka Flo Jo (1959-1998) 
American Football guard Alan Faneca (New York Jets)
American Football cornerback Samari Rolle (Baltimore Ravens)
2006 U.S. Olympic Women’s Hockey Team goalie Chanda Gunn

For a longer list of famous people affected by epilepsy, visit Wikipedia.

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