PURPLE DAY

Epilepsy is one of the most common neurological conditions. In Australia, around 250,000 people are currently diagnosed with epilepsy, and 800,000 Australians will develop epilepsy in their lifetime. It is more common than Parkinson’s, cerebral palsy and muscular dystrophy combined ... and yet awareness is still lower than for all those conditions. Held on 26th March, Purple Day is a global initiative dedicated to raising awareness about epilepsy by wearing the colour and spreading the word about the condition. Purple Day was founded in 2008 by nine-year-old Cassidy Megan of Nova Scotia, Canada. Motivated by her own struggles with epilepsy, Cassidy started Purple Day in an effort to get people talking about the condition as well as let those impacted by seizures know that they are not alone and that there is help available. She named the day Purple Day after the internationally recognised colour for epilepsy, lavender. Epilepsy often affects people before or during their most productive years of their life, and complex drug-resistant epilepsy can severely incapacitate and disable. It is a condition characterised by recurrent (two or more) seizures which may have no identifiable cause. People with epilepsy may suffer significant deficits of their memory, mood disorders, behaviour, judgement and biochemical abnormalities in the brain. It is also referred to as a hidden condition where people don’t want to talk about it because of historic bias, discrimination and stigma that sometimes still exists today. epilepsy.org.nz