I am running for the Epilepsy Soc. as it is a cause close to my families heart. My brother (Matthew Curtis) passed away only 18 years old after suffering from an epileptic seizure. He was not new to suffering seizures and as a family (particularly my parents) we managed as well as we could throughout his life. The gap he has left in our lives is one that will never be filled. His childhood like all of ours had its challenges, but with the epilepsy disease we found as a family that it raised other obstacles also. My parents shielded their three sons Matthew, Luke & I from the stresses of coping with how this affected Matthew - so from a sibIing's point of view I was able to share 18 years with a brother that was great fun, full of life and never ever saw his epilepsy as a reason to say no (even perhaps when he probably should have done, but that is after all part of growing up).

One thing I never contemplated was that we could lose Matthew to the disease, I never associated it as something that could be life threatening in certain cases but rather something that we lived with. After all l had heard a lot about diseases like Cancer but never really heard much about Epilepsy, Matthew was the only person I knew that suffered from it.

Since Matthew died our family has tried to heal, and take strength from our memories. One of the ways we have tried to have a positive outlook is to help support the charity Epilepsy Society to raise awareness and fundraising. My view in particular has been, if I can raise enough money or awareness to help one family understand more about the disease and maybe help financially (no matter how small) to further research for a cure, then perhaps a family like ours will never experience what we did and still have their little brother with them now. As a family we are not new to fund raising as once a year we run the Taunton 10k for the society in Matthews memory with his friends and try to raise alittle money & awareness in doing so.

The money is spent by the society in such a positive way. Just £250 enables them to analyse a DNA sample for medical research, whilst only £10 can help someone talk to a trained operator about the disease & how to cope.

I am pretty nervous about fundraising, despite being outgoing in my approach to life I always find it awkward talking about why I am raising the money and for what cause. But hopefully this will help me in this department too. Even now after the last four years I still find it difficult talking about how I miss my little brother and why this charity is close to my heart. So fingers crossed for the run, I am very determined to raise this money and also I think it will help me feel a little more comfortable about talking about my little brother. Being as generous as you can is massively appreciated.

Thank you!

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So please dig deep and donate now.