{"id":23009,"date":"2019-02-21T12:35:07","date_gmt":"2019-02-21T17:35:07","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/?p=23009"},"modified":"2019-02-28T18:12:57","modified_gmt":"2019-02-28T23:12:57","slug":"we-never-let-his-diagnosis-create-the-people-we-are","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/we-never-let-his-diagnosis-create-the-people-we-are\/","title":{"rendered":"\u201cWe never let his diagnosis create the people we are\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Brock Weir<\/strong><\/p>\n

When Erik Ront had his first seizure, his mother, Laura Schaffer, wasn\u2019t sure just what it was.
\nIt wasn\u2019t the kind of seizure you learn about in First Aid where the individual drops and falls. Erik just began to drool and stare off into space.
\nKnowledge of the complex world of epilepsy, however, soon became second nature to Erik, Laura and their family, and now they hope to help the wider York Region community tackle the stigma directly \u2013 by hitting the ice to benefit Epilepsy York Region.
\nAurora businesses and community groups have jumped behind Epilepsy York Region\u2019s first large Region-wide fundraiser, Skate Away the Stigma, which will take place Saturday, March 23 at the Stouffville Arena to coincide with \u201cPurple Day\u201d, a day dedicated to raising awareness of epilepsy.
\n\u201cEpilepsy York Region has been a very small organization and we\u2019re really trying to flourish, especially after [the group moved] from Richmond Hill to Stouffville last year,\u201d says Ms. Schaffer, noting their new location on Stouffville\u2019s Main Street area has brought increased visibility and foot traffic to the non-profit. \u201cWe\u2019re now starting to realise how many people in York Region have epilepsy and are aware this organization actually exists.\u201d
\nNow in its fourth decade, Epilepsy York Region is a volunteer-based organization dedicated to building awareness and helping families in need of support.
\nThe Ront family has found their services invaluable and have never shied away from stepping up to underscore the work they do. Now, they are lacing up.
\nWhen they began their journey with epilepsy, Laura says they had a several misconceptions of just what epilepsy entailed. There is a prevailing misconception that people having a seizure can swallow their tongues, something that is just not possible.
\n\u201cThe seizures themselves won\u2019t typically hurt the person; it is their surroundings, what they are doing at the time when the seizure is happening,\u201d she says, advising parents to make sure nothing is around their child\u2019s neck, that they have an open airway, and are turned on their sides in case they vomit. \u201cJust allow the seizure to take its course and allow it to finish. The only time we recommend you call 911 is if a seizure lasts longer than five minutes, then we request that you call in an ambulance.
\n\u201cSeizures come in all different forms. When you see someone daydreaming and staring off into space, that can be a seizure. What people typically think of a seizure when you stiffen, fall and jerk is what is called a tonic-clonic. There are hundreds of different kinds of seizures. We want awareness for children not to be afraid of it, that there is nothing wrong with the person, that they are just like everyone else.\u201d
\nThat can sometimes be a struggle for a parent raising a child with epilepsy. While Laura was unsure what was happening the first time Erik had a seizure, she caught on pretty quickly as they kept recurring.
\n\u201cThe hardest thing was taking him to a doctor,\u201d she says. \u201cMy son\u2019s seizures progressed in a month to tonic-clonics. He was always falling, hurting himself, and it was hard keeping him safe. The doctor told me: send him to school, give him a normal life, don\u2019t seclude him and don\u2019t let his epilepsy become him. Make sure he is always strong and aware of it, and proud of it.
\n\u201cOne of the hardest things in Senior Kindergarten was sending him to school in a helmet for an entire year. I didn\u2019t know how kids would react. I didn\u2019t know how he would feel, but we made it like it wasn\u2019t a big deal and he proudly wore it to school, the kids understood and it really educated a lot of the children in the classroom to help and advocate.
\n\u201cIt is a lot to learn in that sense and you have to change your lifestyle. There are things you\u2019re never prepared for, but you learn just to cope and ride with it. For us, we never let his diagnosis create the people that we are.\u201d
\nLooking ahead to the March 23 skate, Laura says she and Epilepsy York Region are hoping to have over 200 people participate, learn, take what they learn out into the wider community and, of course, have some fun along the way.
\nAfter hitting the ice, food and refreshments will be available, along with live entertainment courtesy of Party With Steve, who has been a very active part in Erik\u2019s journey, raffles featuring items donated from various vendors throughout York Region \u2013 and they are always looking for more donors, vendors, entertainers and supporters to come on board and make the day a rousing success.
\n\u201cWe see the same kids at our events every year, we never see it progress and we never see it get any bigger,\u201d says Ms. Ront. \u201cI would really love to have people join our community, especially as a member, and be able to not isolate themselves from this illness, meet different families and talk about their experiences \u2013 just feel like you belong somewhere. Epilepsy is extremely isolating because you don\u2019t understand the illness, why it happens and why it\u2019s here.\u201d
\nFor more on the Skate, how you can become involved, and learn more about Epilepsy York Region, visit epilepsyyork.org, email info@epilepsyyork.org, or call 905-640-8000.<\/p>\n\"Facebook\"<\/a>\"twitter\"<\/a>\"mail\"<\/a>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Epilepsy York Region aims to \u201cSkate Away the Stigma\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":22999,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[4,5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-23009","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-general_news","category-news"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-content\/uploads\/2019\/02\/2019-02-21-01.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p3D2k4-5Z7","publishpress_future_action":{"enabled":false,"date":"2026-04-22 19:52:59","action":"change-status","newStatus":"draft","terms":[],"taxonomy":"category","extraData":[]},"publishpress_future_workflow_manual_trigger":{"enabledWorkflows":[]},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23009","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23009"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23009\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22999"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23009"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23009"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newspapers-online.com\/auroran\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23009"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}