COUNTYWIDE : Epilepsy Foundation Stages 5-K Walk

Striving to erase the fear and discrimination that victimizes those with epilepsy, the Epilepsy Services Foundation of Orange County held a fund-raising 5-K walk Sunday.

More than 200 people participated in the event at Mile Square Park, raising about $15,000 toward educating and counseling epileptics and increasing public awareness of the condition.

Epilepsy is a disorder that affects electrical signals in the brain.

Mary Bertran, director of the foundation, said epileptics often suffer dramatically because they are stigmatized by neighbors, schools, co-workers or employers.

Ann Kantor, 34, a mother of two, said she found it impossible to find child care in Orange County for her three-year-old epileptic daughter.

“I had to advertise out of the newspaper to find someone to care for my daughter,” said Kantor, who is pregnant. She said she pays $1,000 a month for a nanny.

Bertran explained there are several types of epileptic seizures, not all of them serious.

Sometimes a person may simply fall asleep or may start disrobing and acting “crazily,” Bertran said.

But when an epileptic suffers a grand mal seizure, it can have long-lasting mental effects on the sufferer and those who witness it.

“Grand mals are terrifying to someone who has never seen a person in a seizure,” Bertran said. “They’re afraid of what they don’t know.”

Art Fry, 39, said he participated in the fund-raiser because his 4-year-old son has had two seizures, and although they were very mild, he wants more information about the disorder.

“You never know if the seizures will develop into something worse,” Fry said. “My friend has a child who had mild seizures like my son, and it developed into grand mal.”

A 30-year-old woman said she was afraid of losing her job if it was known she has epilepsy.

“There’s a lot of misunderstanding, and a lot of people need to know what epilepsy is,” she said.

The foundation hopes the run will become an annual event to raise money for public education as well as for conferences for parents with children who are epileptics.

There is also an effort to pay for summer camp programs for children.

Anyone wishing to contact the Epilepsy Services Foundation can phone (714) 898-5312.