Mount Pearl 2024 Youth of the Year Eamon Fogwill joined council earlier this month to help council proclaim Purple Day and raise awareness of epilepsy. Fogwill was joined by his mother Sherri and fellow 2024 Youth of the Year Courtney Abbott. Members of council and staff wore purple for the occasion. From left are councillors Chelsea Lane and Jim Locke, Sherri Fogwill, Mayor Dave Aker, Eamon Fogwill, Courtney Abbott, and councillors Isabelle Fry, Mark Rice, and Bill Antle. Joining by conference call was Deputy Mayor Nicole Kieley. Mark Squibb photo
By Mark Squibb
Mount Pearl 2024 Youth of the Year Eamon Fogwill was in council chambers April 1 to mark Purple Day, an internationally recognized epilepsy awareness day, and speak to the importance of raising awareness about the nervous system disorder.
Fogwill used his own experience after being diagnosed with epilepsy to explain the challenges.
“There’s so much that comes along with being diagnosed with epilepsy,” said Fogwill. “There’s a sort of feeling you get of being different. From my personal experience, I was diagnosed when I was 12, and I definitely did have that feeling, when I was diagnosed, of being different from my classmates.”
Fogwill said that fortunately he had a great group of friends, and that him and his parents were able to explain how his medication worked and what they could do to help if he had a seizure.
“I felt that as a community we need to help people who have been diagnosed, we need to raise awareness about what you actually have to do if you see someone going through this,” said Fogwill. “And we have to make people who have been diagnosed feel more welcomed and accepted and know that they are not alone facing those hardships and challenges.”
Councillor Bill Antle also spoke from personal experience – his grandson Lincoln was diagnosed with epilepsy at age four.
“Awareness is key,” said Antle. “When he was first diagnosed it was a scare for us. We didn’t know what to do.”
Antle said that five years on from the diagnosis, Lincoln is doing well and managing his epilepsy with medication. He hasn’t had a seizure in over two-and-a half years.
Councillor Chelsea Lane, herself a mother of three, asked Eamon’s mom Sherry Fogwill what advice she would offer to families following a diagnosis of a family member.
“I get asked that a lot,” said Sherri. “One of the things I was reading about when he was first diagnosed was social outcomes… One of the concerns for parents is the social outcome — are they going to integrate well with other kids? Or you’re afraid to let them go to the park, you’re afraid to let them climb a tree, you’re afraid to let them do all these things, so we try to normalize (the diagnosis.) So, my advice to a parent would be to be as open as you’re comfortable with, because they need to feel just like any other kid.”
