Young Tipperary woman raises vital funds for Epilepsy Ireland on Purple Day

A Tipperary girl was on the streets of Borrisoleigh last week raising money for a cause very close to her heart.

Melissa Ryan, from Borrisoleigh, was diagnosed with epilepsy when she was ten years-old.

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In celebration of Epilepsy Ireland’s Purple Day each year, Melissa takes to her home town, raising money for the charity, whilst spreading awareness of the condition.

Speaking with the Tipperary Star, Melissa outlined her intentions for her fundraising mission, and what her aims were in relation to spreading awareness regarding epilepsy.

“So basically we're just sitting outside our local shop, raising money for Epilepsy Ireland and if anyone has questions about epilepsy or my story we're just trying to teach them about epilepsy because people don't know enough about epilepsy, they think “oh, you have a seizure,” that's it. There's a lot more to it than that. It's very important that people know that and that they know what to do if someone does have a seizure.

“Everyone should know what to do when someone has a seizure because there's over 45,000 people in the country with epilepsy, and anyone could have a seizure at any time. Every one in 20 people will have a seizure at some stage in their life, even without having epilepsy. It’s so important that people know what to do, and that's why Epilepsy Ireland ‘Time, Safe, Stay’, so when someone has a seizure, you time it, when it gets to three minutes, that's when you give them their meds or you ring an ambulance. Safe, you make sure they're safe, make sure their head, there's something soft under their head. And Stay, you always stay with them, you never leave anyone unattended while they're having a seizure.”

Purple Day is a day very close to Melissa’s heart.

Her desire to raise money for the charity came when her former school principal encouraged her to embrace her condition.

She feels motivated to return each year to fundraise by the kindness of the people in the Borrisoleigh community, and their willingness to learn about the condition.

“I had never done anything on Purple Day before, until my principal in school, he was so good, he was very helpful to me. He was thinking how like I should embrace it, you know, embrace my epilepsy, and when Purple Day came around, he said to me “how about you make a video of you telling your story,” so I did that, I made a video of me telling my story and we set up a GoFundMe page. I thought “Ah sure, we’ll €100, €200.” We ended up raising nearly €10,000, which was crazy, and since then, like people were so interested and had so many questions and we raised so much money that even after I finished school I wanted to continue doing something on Purple Day. So where better than outside the local shop? And people are so good to give money. You don't get just €2 thrown in that bucket, you get tenners, fivers, even some people who aren’t going to the shop pull up and come to us just to give us money or just to ask some questions about it and learn a bit, and it's nice as well actually, people tell you stories about if they have epilepsy or family or friends with epilepsy. And it's just, I don't know, it brings people together, and I love sharing my story and any advice that I possibly can.

“It's been amazing, amazing all day. Like we’ve been here for about five hours, but we’ve had people with us all day. We haven’t been sitting here bored, waiting, there’s always someone coming up to us, giving us money, asking questions. The people in this village are just really, really supportive. They really are, we couldn't ask for a better village than Borrisoleigh.”

Melissa’s outlook on her diagnosis at a young age, and living with the condition, are largely positive, and she is thankful for the strong support network around her.

She did, however, outline some of the challenges she has faced, growing up with epilepsy.

“I got diagnosed when I was ten, that was eleven years ago. At the start, all of my seizures were in my sleep, so we didn’t really know what was going on, we just knew something was happening, and then one day I was at the hospital, and I fell down and I had a grand mal seizure in front of the doctors, so they kept me for about a week and I was sent home with a diagnosis and a prescription. It does change a lot in your life, it really does, because you can’t do all the things that everyone else does. That’s the one thing I always say like, I wish I could be like every other 22-year-old, and in lots of ways I am, but, in lots of ways I’m not. I can’t stay out too late, I can’t drink too much, I can’t do this, I’m taking loads of tablets. Going to college was a big thing, I couldn’t go to college after school. That’s when I saw the biggest change, was after secondary school. All of my friends went off to college and I was just left here stuck in Borrisoleigh. My friends should go to college, of course, I want them to be happy, but it’s very lonely. Epilepsy is a very lonely disability. Although I have my family, who are great, but you don’t want to spend all of your time with them either.

“I went through a few hard years in school, not doing anything, and childcare is always what I wanted to do. I tried it. Epilepsy and childcare don’t work. They don’t go together. So, even though childcare was my dream job, always, I had to say “I can’t do this.” As much as I wanted to. So I’m trying to find other things I can do, you can’t just say “I give up,” that’s not me. So, you have to just get back up, and keep going, and find what I can do. There’s something out there I can do, and I’ll figure it out.”

Melissa is grateful to Epilepsy Ireland for the work they have done in educating the people around her, in the hopes of making her life easier.

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She says she is also thankful to the charity for bringing her close with people who share the diagnosis, saying it has brought her some great friendships that she would not have had otherwise.

“Epilepsy Ireland means so much to me, and to my parents. After I got diagnosed, they sent us out of the hospital, not telling us anything, just “you have epilepsy,” that’s it. My parents didn’t know what to do, or my teachers. So Epilepsy Ireland came down to my school, and taught all my teachers first aid for seizures. My teachers wouldn’t have known what to do without them. My parents wouldn’t have the education about seizures that they do if it wasn’t for Epilepsy Ireland. Neither would I. And for years, I thought I was the only child with epilepsy, because I had never met anyone else with epilepsy. And then, I got invited to the Epilepsy Ireland conference, and it was one of the best experiences of my life. I got to meet other people with epilepsy, who are just like me, and when I say “oh, you know that feeling that you can’t describe?” and they’re like “ugh, I know.” No one else gets it other than people with Epilepsy. And I mightn’t see those people all the time, but we’re still in touch, we still talk, we still meet up.

“We’re from all different parts of Ireland, but we all still come together because we all have that one thing in common, and that’s epilepsy. And I wouldn’t have any of that, the friends, the knowledge, any of that if it wasn’t for Epilepsy Ireland, so that’s why I just love to fundraise, to do what I can for them, and just to teach everyone what to do, so that’s why I’ve done so many fundraisers over the years, and last year, me and another girl actually won Fundraiser of the Year for Epilepsy Ireland, and, I cried the whole time, even on the stage when I was receiving it, I couldn’t stop crying. It was amazing, it felt like receiving an Oscar or something. It was amazing, one of the best moments of my life. It really was.”

When asked if she could tell people something about epilepsy that they may not know, she dispelled some of the stereotypes, and outlined some of the challenges she faces that many may not see.

“I would tell them epilepsy isn’t just falling down and having a seizure, and getting back up again and going. There’s headaches, there’s the tiredness, the weakness, and like, after a seizure, it can take days to recover, it’s not just getting back up and going again. I spend days in bed after a seizure, recovering, before I’m fully okay again. And also, a major one is the things you can’t do. Although I might look like everyone else, I can’t do the same things as everyone else, but people don’t realise that.”