By Ruby Pratka
Local Journalism Initiative
Three Farnham Elementary School students with epilepsy and their families and classmates raised nearly $300 for Épilepsie Montérégie with a cupcake sale on Epilepsy Awareness Day, March 26.
Epilepsy is a chronic brain condition characterized by seizures, which affects about 300,000 people in Canada and as many as 50 million people around the world. People with epilepsy can experience seizures – sudden, temporary, bursts of electrical activity in the brain which can lead to jerking movements or loss of situational awareness – triggered by sleep deprivation, low blood sugar, flashing lights or other environmental factors.
Lilianne de la Ronde, a Grade 4 student at Farnham Elementary, was diagnosed with epilepsy after suffering a seizure in class late last year.
“I came from outside to inside and I was having a hard time breathing – that’s not unusual, but it was kind of hardcore. I thought it was my asthma but then my stomach started feeling weird – not like I was going to vomit but like a feeling I hadn’t felt before.” She got up to tell her teacher she didn’t feel well, and fell down. “I was kind of in the moon,” she remembered.
Lilianne’s classmate, Keira Trahan, and a Grade 6 student at the school, Kassandra Sanschagrin, also have epilepsy. Keira and Kassandra helped Lilianne process her experience. “I told them that I felt like I couldn’t speak or move [during and right after the seizure],” Lilianne said. “They said it was normal, because it takes a lot of energy and when it’s over you don’t have any energy left.”
When a person has a seizure, Lilianne explained, there’s “not a whole lot you can do,” except for moving sharp or dangerous objects out of the way and making sure the person doesn’t hit their head. An ambulance should be called if the person is having a seizure for the first time or if it lasts for more than five minutes.
Lilianne’s mom, Julie Guay, said her first seizure was a “very scary experience,” but that she is learning to live with the condition and manage it with medication. She has to be very careful when skiing or skating – both of which she enjoys – but can otherwise do “pretty much anything anyone else can do.”
The Epilepsy Awareness Day initiative at Farnham Elementary School was the brainchild of “three kids with epilepsy and their moms,” and school staff eagerly got on board, allowing Lilianne, Keira and Kassandra to use the school kitchens to make cupcakes for sale, and to miss a bit of class time to speak to their fellow students about epilepsy. They raised $274 for epilepsy research, and perhaps more importantly, spoke to nearly 100 students about epilepsy and seizure safety.