Wednesday, June 15, 2016

Can You volunteer?


Fridays are days I look forward to. After the morning walk, (walking with a friend always) it's off to the Farmers Market in Enderby. Last Friday June 10th my friend Trina and I set up a tent and talked about Epilepsy, to anyone interested on that rainy day. (Virginia drove use down, it took three of use to get the tent up.) 

We are fed up with having seizures and feeling helpless never sure if we will make it through a day without having a siezure. 
We will be setting up at the market as often as we can, to continue to educate others about Epilepsy and raise funds for research, education and hospital beds. We are also looking for volunteers to help fund-raise with us, we are still organizing, but have some great ideas for the days leading up to "Purple Day March 26th 2017".
Some ideas;
A Walk For Epilepsy, with a costume contest.
A dance

If you are interested in helping, let me know, maybe you have some ideas.
What we need help with now is getting to and from the market with all our stuff(tent. chairs, table, info, us)
If you are not able to volunteer, stop by our table at the market and buy my Art greeting cards, 50% of the processed will go to Epilepsy, research and education. See you there! 


Lavender, calming in the garden
The small table loaded with info on epilepsy, my greeting cards, donation jar etc.

Tuesday, April 19, 2016

March 26th Purple Day for Epilepsy 2016

I had so many ideas as to what I wanted to do on March 26th. What I was able to do, was make a pair of purple tie dyed pants, and add cuffs and fabric covered buttons to my vintage coat, matching the coat to the pants. 
The drive from Enderby to Vancouver was not interesting and beautiful as it could be, due to motion sickness. At least I got the motion sickness over with right away. Driving to Vancouver was just the beginning of a trip that took, my sister, my daughter, my grandson and myself to Toronto, New York and Cincinnati, Ohio.
Steve loved the old phone box and the art inside.
Purple Day was the beginning of this trip, Yolanda wrapped Omar in a beautiful purple wrap and Steve tagged along, not much purple to be seen on him. I handed out epilepsy first aid cards, pencils, magnets and brochures about epilepsy, all along Commercial Drive. People asked questions and I was happy to answer to the best of my knowledge. Checked out the music shop and got to play some Ukulele's, and a banjo. The biggest excitement for the day was the run away electric scooter. We were walking up hill and there was a commotion at the top, a women was on this electric scooter yelling,in a French Canadian accent "Move out of the way, move out of the way, I can't stop!". People were  stepping aside, my thoughts were, how do you stop her and not get hurt, Yolanda grabbed the back of her seat I grabbed the handle bars and a man grabbed something else and we managed to stop her. I just held onto those bars with the wheels turned so it wouldn't get away again. Our hearts were just thumping and the woman's lips were purple. It was a good day we diverted a disaster and more people were aware of how to care for someone having a seizure. 
On Sunday we had a family dinner to celebrate Omar turning 6 months old.  It was a good weekend in Vancouver. 

Grandview Park off Commercial Drive in Vancouver. 
Grandview Park, many shades of purple, Of the brightly tie dyed tea shirt, Steve says "I would never wear such an in your face bold print.". I wanted to wear it since epilepsy is bold and in your face. 
Walking down the street can be dangerous if you have active seizures. Dress for safety, On my feet I have boots with low heels and lace up to protect the ankles from twisting and scrapping. In the last 6 months I have had my first two black eye's. My light weight glasses and the ground can do a big number on the eye's, black, bloody, bumps and stitches. When I am home alone or a seizure could be around the corner, I now wear my sports glasses. They are designed to protect the eye's from impact, during sports.
"If I had a chose of how I get black eye's, sprained ankles, torn ligaments, I would not choose epilepsy."