Huntington hosts fundraiser and conference about epilepsy

Cabell Huntington Hospital, Joan C. Edwards School of Medicine and the Epilepsy Foundation of Greater Cincinnati are sponsoring a fundraiser and conference this weekend in Huntington to raise awareness and support for people with epilepsy.

The weekend will begin with a conference hosted by various professionals discussing topics relating to epilepsy and seizures in adults and children at 8 a.m. on Friday at Cabell Huntington Hospital.

A 5K run/walk will take place at 9 a.m. Saturday at Pullman Square.

Dr. Mark Stecker, neurologist at Cabell Huntington Hospital, and Mona Baran, neuroscience Certified Nurse Practitioner, will be among the professionals attending the events.

"I will participate in the run/walk as well as do some of the lectures for the day," Baran said.

Stecker said he is excited to hear two patients perform at the conference.

"I think a fun part is we are going to have two patients that have had seizures and are fantastic singers to perform in the middle of the conference," Stecker said. "It is nice to see how gifted people can be who have had problems like this."

Epilepsy is known for being associated with seizures, Stecker said.

"A seizure is when someone has abnormal electrical activity in the brain that causes them to have abnormal movements or behaviors, and most typically the causes are types of brain injury," Stecker said. "Someone might have a head injury, they might have a tumor or stroke or a genetic tendency."

Stecker said a person could be born with epilepsy.

"The way the brain develops is so complicated because so many genes are involved," Stecker said. "If there is even the slightest abnormality those connections between cells may cause people to be prone to seizures."

One percent of people have epilepsy, Stecker said.

"If you look at Marshall University, there are a lot of students with epilepsy," he said. "There are more than 100 people who have it."

Stecker said there a couple different ways to treat epilepsy.

"We first need to find out why the person has it and make sure we understand whether it is a head injury, genetic, caused by medication or something else," Stecker said. "The second thing would be to give the patient medications."

If medication doesn't work a person can have surgery, he said.

"If we can find a scar that causes the seizures, then doing surgery to take it out can be very helpful," Stecker said.

Baran said there are a couple of things a person can do when around someone who is having a seizure.

"The first thing someone should do is make sure the patient is not injured by clearing any obstacles away from them," Baran said. "After removing obstacles, you should activate EMS or emergency medical services. "

For more information about the epilepsy conference or to register for the run/walk, visit the Cabell Huntington Hospital Web site and click on the epilepsy conference link.

Andrea Poling can be contacted at poling26@marshall.edu.