Sunday, March 26, 2017

Purple Day

  1. Purple Day is the international day for epilepsy and falls on 26 March each year. 
  2. On Purple Day people come together to turn the world purple for epilepsy, by raising vital funds and awareness of the condition.
  3. Cassidy Megan born in Nova Scotia, Canada created the idea of Purple Day on 26 March 2008, who was 9 years old at the time. motivated by her own struggles with epilepsy. 
  4. Cassidy's goal is to get people talking about epilepsy in an effort to dispel myths and inform those with seizures that they are not alone. 
  5. The Epilepsy Association of Nova Scotia came on board in 2008 to help develop Cassidy's idea, which is now known as the Purple Day for Epilepsy campaign.
  6. Cassidy chose the colour purple because lavender is recognised as the international flower of epilepsy.
  7. In 2009, the New York-based Anita Kaufmann Foundation and Epilepsy Association of Nova Scotia joined forces to launch Purple Day internationally, and in March 2009, the official USA Purple Day Party launch was organized by the New York-based Anita Kaufmann Foundation - a charity dedicated to educating the public about epilepsy.
  8. Epilepsy is a chronic disorder, the hallmark of which is recurrent, unprovoked seizures.
  9. The cause of most cases of epilepsy is unknown.
  10. The word epilepsy is from Ancient Greek: ἐπιλαμβάνειν "to seize, possess, or afflict".
  11. The world's oldest description of an epileptic seizure comes from a text in Akkadian (a language used in ancient Mesopotamia) and was written around 2000 BC.
  12. The oldest known detailed record of the disease itself is in the Sakikku, a Babylonian cuneiform medical text from 1067–1046 BC.

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