Epilepsy event born out of gratitude

By Bryan McKenzie

Published: August 24, 2008

If you can expect a seven-fold investment on your giving, the Epilepsy Foundation of Virginia has seen a return of truly biblical proportions.

Four years ago, the foundation gave $300 to a local mother struggling to take care of her family so that she could purchase a specialized helmet for her 2-year-old daughter. Her daughter’s epilepsy could cause her to suddenly collapse, possibly suffering a head injury. Last year that mother returned to the foundation about $13,000 in donations.

“I had to quit work to take care of her and the children and the helmet she needed was $300. That money was hard to come by,” Carrie Miller explained. “I was told to contact the Epilepsy Foundation and they gave me the money for it. I vowed then that I would find a way to contribute that back to the agency.”

Lofty goals

Ms. Miller is the driving force behind the Emmalyn Miller Event. Last year the event, held at Farmington Country Club, cleared $13,000 for the nonprofit. This year, Ms. Miller is hoping for $25,000.

The event is named after her daughter, now 6, who lives with epilepsy. Her other two children, Alyssa, 5, and Christopher, 10, do not have it. The event is on tap this year for Sept. 12 at Farmington, and Gold’s Gym has made the event a major part of its Olympic program, sponsoring the Pushups for Emmalyn contest to help raise money.

According to the foundation’s Web site, epilepsy is a medical condition in which errant signals in the brain produce seizures that can affect a person mentally and physically. Seizures can cause altered consciousness, unconsciousness and muscle contractions. The seizures are sometimes triggered by events but often are random. They may not happen for weeks, months or years and then, without warning, occur in a cluster.

“Emmalyn was seizure-free from about January to June, and then she had some clusters,” Ms. Miller said. “She also had some reactions to her medications.”

Spread the word

While raising money is a major goal, more important is spreading the word, not only about epilepsy’s potential causes, but also about those who live with it every day.

“There are 70,000 people in Virginia who have epilepsy and epilepsy still has a stigma,” Ms. Miller said. “I’ve approached several schools about Emmalyn attending classes and when I ask if they have anyone willing to be trained [to deal with seizures], they look at her like she’s [abnormal].”

Last year’s event was a big success, Ms. Miller said.

“We raised money and a lot of people came up to me and told me how much the event meant to them,” she said. “That means a lot to me.”