Rock-a-Thon raises epilepsy awareness
By ELISE McKEOWN SKOLNICK
AUSTINTOWN
Clowns and music lent a partylike feel to the porch of the Cracker Barrel restaurant, but it was a party with a purpose.
It was part of the Mahoning Valley Epilepsy’s eighth annual Rock-a-Thon to raise awareness and money.
“There are many people that do not know that Mahoning Valley [Epilepsy] exists, and we want them to know that, because we’re here to help,” said Marty Smith Subramanian, director.
“We have support groups for adults, for children.”
Cracker Barrel restaurants have rocking chairs on their front porches, encouraging people to sit and talk with neighbors.
“And that’s what we wanted,” Subramanian said. “A relaxed atmosphere where people could rock and talk to each other about their experience with epilepsy, as well as share information about epilepsy.”
Community businesses, individuals, clubs, and other organizations sponsored rocking chairs or obtained pledges to occupy the rocking chairs for an hour at a time during Saturday’s event.
Friends and family of Wanda and Matthew Yerkey have rocked at the event for seven years, in memory of the son the Yerkeys lost.
The group wore matching light-blue T-shirts and held large photos of Blair Yerkey, who died in 2005 from complications due to epilepsy. He was 20 months old.
“We think of it as a celebration of his life,” said Wanda Yerkey of Salem.
“We hope we raise awareness in the community. A lot of people don’t know [about the organization]. We didn’t know that this was available to us when we were going through this. We didn’t even know it existed until after our son passed away.”
Linda Gillin of Beaver County, Pa., and her mother, Cindy Pope of Boardman, didn’t know about the event. They were at Cracker Barrel to have lunch with Gillin’s children, Alyssa, 9, and Jordan, 5.
A clown made a pink balloon bear for Alyssa and a balloon hat shaped like the Sesame Street character Elmo for Jordan.
The event is “very interesting,” said Linda Gillin. “It definitely raises awareness.
If we didn’t stop by to eat, we wouldn’t know it was going on.”
Alyssa said she didn’t know anything about epilepsy before the event.
Now, her mother said, “she’ll definitely start asking questions. She’ll start talking to people at school, and she’ll get a better idea of other things that go on with other people.”
Colleen Chennell, of Youngstown, was diagnosed with epilepsy when she was 4, and has lived with it for 52 years.
She’s a member of the MVE support group.
The support group helps, she said.
“You go and find out you’re not the only one,” Chennell said. “That there’s other people who have the same problem. Because when I first went there, I thought I was the only one.Then I found out all these people have the same thing, sometimes even worse than I have.”
Individuals receive a diagnosis of epilepsy when they have a pattern of seizures, Subramanian said. Epilepsy affects more than 3 million Americans of all ages, she added.
MVE offers support groups for children and adults, assistance in obtaining necessary medications for adults and educational programs at schools, work sites and other venues in Mahoning, Trumbull and Columbiana counties.