Wednesday 21 March 2012

Purple Up For Purple Day

What do you think of when you think of the colour purple?


Purple Rain, Purple Haze or Lucky Heather maybe?


It means much more to many people, as pink is to breast cancer, purple is to epilepsy.


Purple Day
A nine year old girl called Megan Cassidy from Canada even went so far as to organize a purple day.  Which since it began just a few short years ago has now become a global day of awareness.


That day falls on March the 26th each year.


People around the world will do many weird and wonderful things this March the 26th, many school children will wear purple clothes to school, many creative cooks will hold purple cake sales, many boxes of violet hair dye will be sold!
If  you are going to go purple for your favourite epilepsy charity we would like to hear about it!




This year Mimic Art have created a wonderful piece of  work entitled 'Absence Eyes.'


It is special for two reasons, the first being that it is the 100th work for Mimic Art and secondly the creator of the painting has a very personal reason for wanting it to coincide with purple day.  Martin Mchale aka Mimic Art has a son with epilepsy.  A very brave young man who has had to deal with much in his life and his mum Sarah Mchale told me about Jake.


"Jake has suffered with seizures since he was six months old.  He was diagnosed with Rasmussens Encephalitis at the age of  three.  By the age of five he was having as many as 200 seizures each and every day.  The decision was made to undergo brain surgery, this particular procedure was a right hemispherectomy" (the complete removal of half of the brain.)


Jake is almost 21 now and still experiences seizures everyday but due to advances in medication the seizures have decreased. Everything that has been experienced by Jake in his life has been witnessed through these eyes:

Absence Eyes 
Everyone effected by epilepsy has their own story to tell, so what ever you do this March 26th, purple up for purple day.