Our Story
LAB Epilepsy Research Group, Inc. is now Epilepsy Support and Education Services. We are a small nonprofit organization that was created by by three people living with intractable epilepsy. We all met at the local epilepsy support group, and discovered we had many of the same goals and ideas, and decided to organize further.
Although the story about LAB is really fun - (The three people who founded this organization help to make up the name of our organization: Louise, Audrey, and Bill); we called ourselves a "research group" because throughout our journey with epilepsy, we have all felt like we are "doing research on ourselves" - it has become very clear that people don't fully connect with the old name and understand what it is we do. So to clarify our goals, we made the name change to coincide with our occupying office space in Albuquerque! We still believe our neurologists are amazing physicians, but they don't know what it is like to live WITH epilepsy. All other organizations work to cure epilepsy, and we hope to get there as well someday, but we believe that all of us with epilepsy still have a life to live while the cure is in the process of being found, so our focus became more one of Acceptance - learning to live our lives WITH EPILEPSY as effectively, and positively as possible! It is our hope that we will be able to honor our friend and founding member through our continued work with epilepsy.
First Annual Epilepsy Walk in Albuquerque!!!
We will hold Epilepsy Walk ABQ! on the grounds of Albuquerque Academy, which is located at 6400 Wyoming Blvd NE, on Saturday March 31, 2012, beginning at 8:00 am. The registration process is being finalized as we speak, so watch here in the next few weeks for a link to register! It will cost $35 to register, which will include a commemorative t-shirt as well as a bag of information and goodies provided by our sponsors. Individuals will have the option of obtaining $75 or more in pledges in lieu of paying their own registration. Participants will have two walking options - a shorter 1.3 mile walk or for those marathoners a longer 3.3 mile walk is also available! We will also be providing prizes for the "oldest walker", "youngest walker", the
road runner" (walker who completes most quickly), and even a prize for the "turtle"(walker who finishes last)! Watch here for updates as we get closer to March!
http://regonline.com/EpilepsyWalkABQ
Brain Awareness Week and Purple Day to kick things off!
Brain Awareness Week will be March 12-18th, and Purple Day will be on March 26th. We are still working on plans for Brain Awareness Week, but will have available some literature from the Dana Brain Alliance. We will post more information as plans become more solid. Purple Day was started a few years ago by a 9-year-old who wanted to make a difference in the epilepsy community. It is now celebrated internationally!
Board Members
A special thank you to all the board members. We now have five members, including: Debra Carter, MA, LPCC, LRC (treasurer); Kris McNair (secretary); Matthew Peterson; Anne Doering; Terry Weeks; and Cynthia Berkheimer, Bernadette Pumper, Cecilia Baca and Louise Hagan are alternate members. We also want to throw out a special thanks to our local Cyberonics representative, Rudy Herrera, who has been quite a powerhouse here at our organization! Thanks to all these folks for agreeing to help us reach a new level in our organization's history. |
This group was started by a wonderful woman who lost her son to epilepsy, and rather than let that cause her to crumble, she turned that energy into a group that has been in existence for more than 30 years in Albuquerque. This group is open to anyone with an interest in epilepsy, so family, friends, and even people just interested in learning more are welcome to attend. This group meets on the 2nd and 4th Tuesday of every month at 1100 Lomas Blvd NW, Suite 3. We meet from 6-7:30 pm. We focus on studies of epilepsy and the brain.
