Wear Purple and show you care!
Purple Day for Epilepsy
Cassidy Megan’s Story
Message from Cassidy
Click here for Cassidy’s Interview with Terry Johnston (audio - mp3)
The idea of an international Purple Day is the dream of 9 year old Cassidy Megan of Nova Scotia. Cassidy has partial seizures. “Initially she wasn’t too keen to talk about her seizures, but the Epilepsy Association of Nova Scotia (EANS) visited her school and gave a presentation to her grade 3 class” says Deidre Floyd, of EANS.
What followed was a snowball of events that lead up to the first purple day event. Cassidy started to tell people about her seizures and wanted to become an ambassador to help heighten awareness of epilepsy, and let other children with epilepsy to know they weren’t alone. Cassidy also wanted people to understand that there are many different types of seizures and that there was no need to be afraid.
She approached her principal about setting up a day in which everyone wears purple or shades of purple in support of epilepsy. The official colour associated with epilepsy is lavender however as Cassidy said …”lavender is really just a shade of purple” and so the Purple Day was born!
Epilepsy Nova Scotia encouraged other epilepsy agencies coast to coast to participate, here in Durham Region, we were able to organize an interview for Cassidy and her mother, Angela, with our local radio celebrity Terry Johnston of ckdo 107.7 fm. Two local schools, a local daycare, a retirement residence, and a public utilities company all participated in the first Purple Day.
Since March 26th 2008, Cassidy’s enthusiasm and drive have gained international interest – help us maintain the momentum and join us every March 26th and be part of the Epilepsy Awareness Purple Wave Parade!
Sometimes the best ideas come from the youngest minds!
**Epilepsy Durham Region expresses its appreciation to The Epilepsy Association of Nova Scotia for spear-heading The Purple Day campaign and for sharing their stories with all of us.
|
