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Young Epilepsy
SUSSEX, U K (This Is Sussex) - Forty people endured three hours of intense exercise to raise funds for children like Emily Helmsley.
Emily, 13, from Forest Row, is one of the epileptic children cared for by Young Epilepsy in Lingfield.
The charity held a fundraising Zumbathon at East Grinstead's Kings Leisure Centre on Sunday.
Dancers raised £2,000 for Young Epilepsy, which will use the money to help the 112,000 young people in the country with epilepsy.
Emily was diagnosed with epilepsy when she was two years old.
Her mother, Kerry-Lee Simmonds, said: "Having a disabled child can be tough. I used to regularly go without sleep for days looking after Emily, which made me so exhausted.
"Emily has challenging autistic traits, as well as epilepsy, which means that she has fluctuating energy levels, no sense of danger, no sense of time or personal space and regularly puts anything and everything into her mouth. Sometimes it's like having three children in one."
Emily was enrolled at St Piers School, Young Epilepsy's special school, in November for residential care and learning.
"My priority has always been to find the right environment for Emily, where she can get the medical support she needs but that also offers the right education facilities to help with her development," said Mrs Simmonds.
"She needs a consistent environment with teams of professionals under one roof. Emily is non-verbal so it can be difficult, at times, to communicate with her."
About 200 children attend St Piers, a mix of day and residential pupils.
Mel Cranham, 38, of Coronation Road in East Grinstead, took part in the Zumbathon and raised £512 for Young Epilepsy.
She said: "It was awesome, I loved every second of it. There were fab instructors, fab music and fab people."
Lisa Farmer, the charity's director of fundraising, said the event was a "great success" and the charity was delighted to receive such strong local support.
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Updated 415 days ago Article ID# 1525017
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