Happy International Epilepsy Day 2022!

A special message from J Helen Cross, ILAE president, on International Epilepsy Day 2022

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Video Transcript

Hello, as president of the International League Against Epilepsy, I would like to wish you a very happy International Epilepsy Day.

International Epilepsy Day has been celebrated on the second Monday of February since 2015. It provides a platform for people with epilepsy to share their experience and stories from around the world. This year is rather special as it falls on the 14th of February – St. Valentine’s Day. So, we are hoping that many people from around the world will be able to reach out and share a heart and a smile with someone they know in their family, at their school, or in their community who lives with epilepsy.

Perhaps you know someone, but perhaps you don’t. Despite the fact that 1 in 22 of us will have a seizure at some point in our lives you may not actually know someone with epilepsy. This is because seizures and epilepsy are often hidden away. There is a lot of misunderstanding about epilepsy all around the world, and many people with epilepsy suffer from isolation and discrimination.

But epilepsy is a very treatable condition. The majority of people with epilepsy with the right treatment can live seizure free. Epilepsy does not and should not limit or exclude anyone. So, on International Epilepsy Day this year, please join us in sharing this understanding, in reaching out to someone you may know with epilepsy and in celebrating all the stories of achievement from people with epilepsy from around the world that you can find on our interactive map at internationalepilepsyday.org.

Happy International Epilepsy Day to you all!