Supporting Karys, “Our why, our 1 in 26”
One in twenty-six people is diagnosed throughout their lifetime with epilepsy, including a Kane resident diagnosed in 2013 with epilepsy at age five, Karys Mcomb.
“Karys is our why, our 1 in 26,” Katie Stewart, Karys’s mother, said.
“Epilepsy is a hard diagnosis because there are many types of seizures with many types of symptoms,” Stewart said. “Some people have auras and can feel a seizure coming on but for my daughter, her seizures have been random with not much correlation to the typical causes such a strobe light, lack of sleep, etc. Epilepsy is like a silent stalker because you never know when a seizure will occur.”
Stewart created the “Purple Proud” Facebook page after Karys (now age 15) was diagnosed at age five. Stewart explained that the name of the team “Purple Proud” came from the color purple being the recognized color for epilepsy.
November being National Epilepsy Awareness Month and April 26 being Purple Day, Stewart said people can show their support by wearing purple, sharing a fact about Epilepsy, teaching someone how to respond to a seizure, and donating to the Epilepsy Foundation.
Stewart said that it was important for the family to participate in the Pittsburgh Family Fun Run/walk Day event to give back to a program that has helped Karys and also for Karys to see that she is not alone. The family, including Karys, participated in the Pittsburgh Family Fun Run/walk for Epilepsy on Saturday, June 25, at PNC Park. The Epilepsy Association of Western and Central PA hosted the event and reported over 850 participants.
Kane resident and Karys grandmother, Susan Coulter, said that she walked in the 34th Annual Epilepsy Family Fun Run/walk Day.
“It was awesome. It was in PNC Park and we walked all the way around the stadium and came up the river. There were a lot of people and dogs. Tables were set up with information and they were very organized. It was a 2 ½ mile walk. It was a cool thing to do to support my granddaughter,” Coulter said.
According to www. purpleday.org, Purple Day is an international grassroots effort dedicated to increasing awareness about epilepsy worldwide. On March 26th annually, people in countries around the world are invited to wear purple and host events in support of epilepsy awareness.
Last year, people in more than 85 countries on all continents participated in Purple Day. Canada is the only country in the world that officially recognizes March 26th as Purple Day through the Purple Day Act implemented on June 28, 2012.