March Updates at Living Well With Epilepsy

This is a big week for epilepsy awareness. Organizations and individuals that have a stake in epilepsy awareness and research will converge on the National Mall in Washington DC this weekend for the 5th annual National Walk for Epilepsy.

In Canada, it is a month of epilepsy awareness leading up to Purple Day on March 26. But Purple Day is not just for Canadians. This grassroots initiative has gone international with the help of the Anita Kaufmann Foundation.

And last but not least we are making changes to the linkups so they can best serve every epilepsy organization out there! To learn more check out the segments below.

Linkups moving to a monthly format
Our first foray into linking up epilepsy blogs was successful. However it was not successful enough to warrant a post every week. I am going to add this to the schedule once a month, during the third week of the month. I will promote it on twitter and facebook beforehand, and feel free to ask questions.

I noticed that some sites that linked during the first linkup did not come back and add their site again their site again the second time. To get maximum exposure to folks with epilepsy who may not already know about your organization, blog or upcoming events, I encourage you to take advantage of the linkups each month.

And let me know if you get new traffic as a result of the linkup. I’d love to know if it is helping.

Purple Day
Don’t forget to wear purple on March 26. This is an international grassroots effort that was started by a nine year old in Canada and has spread to the international epilepsy community. For more information visit the purple day web site or check out my post from earlier this month.

National Walk for Epilepsy
It’s time for the 2011 National Walk for Epilepsy in Washington DC. I’ve been watching the buzz on twitter and it looks like it will be the biggest and best event yet. The walk will be held on the National Mall in DC on Sunday March 27. The event is a family oriented, noncompetitive walk to raise funds for research, education, advocacy and services for people with epilepsy and their caregivers.

It also helps for Washington to see throngs of people coming out in support of epilepsy. This is the fifth annual walk and the event has raised more than $4 Million. If you are interested in participating but have not registered there is still time. Visit the site for more information on registration deadlines and the walk route.

Women with Epilepsy
If you missed the post on women with epilepsy check it out here.

Jessica K. Smith Founder and CEO; Executive Director

Jessica Keenan Smith is a patient advocate and epilepsy community leader with more than 15 years of experience. As Founder and CEO of Living Well With Epilepsy and Executive Director of ASENT she bridges the gap between the scientific and patient communities, with a particular focus on the needs of the epilepsies. Jessica Keenan Smith is Founder and CEO of Living Well With Epilepsy, an award winning online resource for people affected by epilepsy to share stories and access in-depth information on the disease. Since 2009, Living Well With Epilepsy (https://livingwellwithepilepsy.com) has been featured in Forbes, Wired, NBC, NPR and the cover story of Epilepsy Advocate Magazine and has partnered with companies such as UCB, Lundbeck, Sunovion, Eisai, and more. Ms. Smith is also the Executive Director of the American Society for Experimental Neurotherapeutics (ASENT) (https://asent.org), an organization that brings together leaders from industry, academia, government and advocacy who are engaged in bringing drugs and devices to market across all neurologic disease states. In this role she is responsible for leading a successful scientific journal and annual scientific conference with speakers from all over the world.

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