Heathfield businesses pledge to support Michelle’s mission on 26th March

Heathfield’s Michelle Samuel is on a mission to turn her home town purple to help reduce epilepsy deaths.

Michelle is determined to raise awareness Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP) and other epilepsy-related deaths in the hope that more deaths can be prevented. She sadly lost her younger sister Diane who died in her sleep, age only 20, from SUDEP

Many Heathfield businesses have agreed to help Michelle raise awareness of SUDEP by turning Heathfield purple for the day. Purple Day is celebrated on 26 March annually and is a grassroots effort dedicated to increasing awareness of epilepsy worldwide.

Michelle says: “This is the second year Heathfield is going purple. The feedback I received from businesses who participated last year was that they enjoyed going purple as a town and that customers were genuinely interested in helping. We can help save lives just by making people aware of SUDEP. ”

There are around 1,200 deaths from epilepsy in the UK each year, 600 of which are SUDEP. Research has found that 42% of these deaths are potentially avoidable.

Michelle is currently trying to raise funds for SUDEP Action and to help the charity raise awareness of epilepsy risks including SUDEP. SUDEP Action is dedicated to raising awareness of epilepsy risks and tackling epilepsy deaths including SUDEP. It is the only charity that specialises in supporting and involving people bereaved by epilepsy.

SUDEP Action Chief Executive Jane Hanna OBE said: “The risks of SUDEP are still not fully acknowledged. This means that some people with epilepsy are still at risk of dying suddenly, prematurely and unnecessarily. We are grateful to our supporters who do so much to raise vital funds to help research into the prevention of SUDEP and other epilepsy deaths. We urge anyone who knows of the death of someone with epilepsy to report it to The Epilepsy Deaths Register at www.sudep.org”.

More information on SUDEP and the work of SUDEP Action can be found at The SUDEP Action support line number is 01235 772852.