Lincoln-Way East graduate inspires epilepsy awareness game

On May 3 the Lincoln-Way Central Knights Softball Team hosted the Lincoln-Way West Warriors in their first-ever Epilepsy Awareness Game. Knight and Warrior players and coaches were decked out in purple to support epilepsy awareness.

The idea for the game was prompted by Lincoln-Way East graduate Lauren Knepper, who initially reached out to Lincoln-Way Central Athletic Director Matthew Lyke in early April. She told Lyke that she wanted to coordinate efforts for an official Epilepsy Awareness Game, and Lyke connected her to Lincoln-Way Central Head Softball Coach Jeff Tarala.

Knepper graduated from high school in 2012 and eagerly enrolled in college at Saint Xavier University in the fall. Just when she was getting settled into college, she began to have grand mal seizures three to four times per week.

After medications, countless appointments, hospitalizations and a surgery designed to help her condition, The Danny Did Foundation paid for a bed alarm for Knepper. The alarm is designed to sound when it senses certain movements over a certain amount of time.

Knepper now works as a nurse in the same hospital that saved her life, and has become an active member of The Danny Did Foundation's Young Professionals Board.

For information about The Danny Did Foundation, seizure safety and the little boy who sparked the movement, visit dannydid.org.