Fugett Dominates Epilepsy
12/11/2019
By Ryan Agamalian
Last week at Fugett, we had the dodgeball game to end an exciting week of participation in Fugett
DOM-inates Epilepsy. This event was created by Mrs. Scolis to bring awareness of epilepsy to the community. I decided to sit down with Mrs. Scolis to find out her reasoning to bring this event to Fugett.
Why did you decide to start the fundraiser?
My grandson Dominic, right before his 3rd birthday, was found unconscious. They had just gotten back from the beach and his mom walked into his room and found him. It came totally out of the blue and that was his first seizure. After that, we found out that he could have thousands a day. Dominic has a very rare case of epilepsy called Doose Syndrome, also known or Myoclonic Astatic Epilepsy (M.A.Y.).
With this type of epilepsy, it has been found that a special diet can actually help a patient. The diet consists of 90 percent of all calories coming from high-fat foods, such as heavily whipped cream, mayonnaise, oils, and butter. They also require adequate proteins and only a few carbs. For instance, Dominic can only eat two goldfish or one Dorito per day and all of it has to be weighed into 1/10th of a gram. CHOP has been a great help for his diet. They have provided all our recipes for Dominic.
Why is epilepsy so important to you and why did you want to spread awareness of epilepsy?
We want a cure! One in 26 people has epilepsy. For instance, if a class has 26 students, then one person in that class will have a seizure in their lifetime. Also, we as human beings need to know how to recognize and deal with seizures.
How can Fugett students make a difference?
I wanted kids who have epilepsy in their family to have a platform to talk about it.
Fugett has earned over $4,000 to donate to CHOP for epilepsy research and you can still donate.
DOM-inates Epilepsy. This event was created by Mrs. Scolis to bring awareness of epilepsy to the community. I decided to sit down with Mrs. Scolis to find out her reasoning to bring this event to Fugett.
Why did you decide to start the fundraiser?
My grandson Dominic, right before his 3rd birthday, was found unconscious. They had just gotten back from the beach and his mom walked into his room and found him. It came totally out of the blue and that was his first seizure. After that, we found out that he could have thousands a day. Dominic has a very rare case of epilepsy called Doose Syndrome, also known or Myoclonic Astatic Epilepsy (M.A.Y.).
With this type of epilepsy, it has been found that a special diet can actually help a patient. The diet consists of 90 percent of all calories coming from high-fat foods, such as heavily whipped cream, mayonnaise, oils, and butter. They also require adequate proteins and only a few carbs. For instance, Dominic can only eat two goldfish or one Dorito per day and all of it has to be weighed into 1/10th of a gram. CHOP has been a great help for his diet. They have provided all our recipes for Dominic.
Why is epilepsy so important to you and why did you want to spread awareness of epilepsy?
We want a cure! One in 26 people has epilepsy. For instance, if a class has 26 students, then one person in that class will have a seizure in their lifetime. Also, we as human beings need to know how to recognize and deal with seizures.
How can Fugett students make a difference?
I wanted kids who have epilepsy in their family to have a platform to talk about it.
Fugett has earned over $4,000 to donate to CHOP for epilepsy research and you can still donate.
Follow this link to donate: ntID=638https://chop.donordrive.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=donorDrive.event&eve