A FAMILY of epilepsy warriors is fighting to raise awareness of the condition and change people’s lives.

Epilepsy is an enormous part of family life for the Kings, from Barnton, as dad Ben, and sons Jenson, two, and six-month old William all suffer from it.

Jenson suffers from four different types of seizure, from absence seizures that happen every day to more serious seizures that see him admitted to hospital.

Baby William also suffers from two types of seizure.

Her experiences prompted Mum Rachael to hold a cake sale in aid of Epilepsy Action on the charity’s Purple Day last year, raising more than £200.

This year she has unintentionally upped the ante and said the Kings are on the way to raising thousands of pounds by this year’s event, on March 26, which they will mark with a purple balloon race at Barnton Pre-school.

This year’s proceeds will be split between Epilepsy Action and Alder Hey Children’s Hospital.

Rachael said: “It gives you something positive to do and you know you’re helping other parents going through the same thing as us.

“You can sometimes feel quite lonely, even though you’re not alone, and you do have down days, so doing something positive can make a difference.”

Balloons are £2 each for the race with prizes for those that go furthest, including family passes to a Warrington Wolves game, a spa pass, signed Everton and Coronation Street pictures and a family pass for a Manchester United tour and museum visit.

Eurocamp has donated a £1,000 holiday, which is being auctioned off, and Rachael is selling Epilepsy Action keyrings for £1.

Rachael said: “We’ve been overwhelmed by support and had a number of people that have messaged us on Facebook wondering how they can help.

“We want to say thank you to all the people who have donated prizes and helped so far.”

For more information search for Rachael King and Ben King on Facebook.

Factfile:

There are a number of types of seizure. These include:

• Focal (partial) seizures – these can be very brief or last for minutes. The sufferer may remain alert or be unaware of what is happening. The seizure may include uncontrollable movements or unusual sensations or feelings.

• Tonic-clonic seizures – this is the seizure commonly associated with epilepsy. It results in a loss of consciousness, muscles stiffening and then stiffening and relaxing, causing the body to jerk.

• Absence seizures – these consist of a few seconds of unconsciousness where the sufferer appears to be daydreaming but cannot be brought out of it.

• Myoclonic seizures – very brief seizures that can cause muscles to jerk, often in just one or both arms.

• Tonic seizures – all of the muscles tighten in the seizure, which usually last less than 20 seconds.

• Atonic seizures – a very brief seizure which causes the sufferer to lose muscle tone and drop to the floor.

First Aid:

If you see someone have a tonic-clonic seizure:

• Remove any harmful objects nearby.

• Cushion their head.

• Place in recovery position AFTER the seizure has finished.

• Stay with the person until recovery is complete and be calmly reassuring.

• Call an ambulance if you know it is their first seizure, if the seizure lasts more than five minutes, if one tonic-clonic seizure follows another without the person regaining consciousness between them or if the person has been injured.