Indianapolis, Indiana (March 29, 2011), One afternoon in August 2010, a women by the name of Rocky DeLucenay decided to turn what was an exhausting and scary period of time for her family into an opportunity to focus on what she could do to help people who are living with Epilepsy. Spurred by the experiences of her tiny 5 year old granddaughter, Madison, a child who has lived with epilepsy since she was 2 years old, Mrs. DeLucenay felt she had to do something to make education about the illness more readily accessible for people. In late 2008, Mrs. DeLucenay’s granddaughter was suffering upwards of thirty to forty seizures a day. She endured 101 days of hospitalization in a 6 month period receiving care related to the wide array of seizures she was experiencing. Finally at the end of 2009 Madison’s’ seizures had been reduced, even though she was still dealing with 5-10 seizures per week. This was a frightening ordeal for this young child and everyone close to her. The grandmother, from Ashley, Indiana, felt helpless watching her young granddaughter suffer so much at such a young age. The support and information provided by Carol Carmella, an epilepsy educator in Northern Indiana, was the source of much of their fortitude throughout this process. The DeLucenay family feels that without that program, the emotional toll would have been so much higher. As do most people, they feared the unknown and once they had accurate information and someone to turn to, it was easier to focus on the most important thing, helping young Madison. Afterwards, they felt the need to give back and help the Foundation in anyway they could. As Mr. Jeff Rubenstein, President of “The Epilepsy Foundation of Indiana” explained, “Epilepsy is one of the most discriminated against disorders today. Raising awareness will help our immediate goals of educating people about epilepsy and make it less scary to deal with. In the long term, raising awareness today, and educating people in our schools will help aid the research for epilepsy; making more people aware of the debilitating effects of epilepsy, giving people an understanding of how widespread this condition is, many people are unaware that one in ten adults will have a seizure sometime during their life. We are committed to raising funds in Indiana in order to serve people with epilepsy and their families. As part of this effort, the Foundation is pleased to announce the inaugural year of Funds generated from the sale of these daylilies will be used to conduct epilepsy educational programs.” Based on Mrs. DeLucenay’s idea, The Epilepsy Foundation of Indiana is now launching a fundraiser called "Growing Epilepsy Awareness - One Daylily At A Time". In its inaugural year, this initiative runs from March 21st, 2011 - April 30th, 2011, is aimed at raising funds to facilitate education programs through the sale of perennial daylilies. Daylily plants come in a near infinite choice of beautiful colors and are very adaptable to different climates. These unique plants offer a wonderful way to connect with friends, family and the community while providing a special opportunity to support community awareness about epilepsy. The Foundation is offering a little extra incentive for the whole family to get involved in raising awareness, they are offering prizes for those who sell $250, $500 and over $1,000 in total sales. To find out how you can help raise awareness about Epilepsy and become involved in this exciting and unique fundraiser, check out the official website at http://indianaepilepsyfoundation.org/NEWS.html Jeff Rubenstein is author of this article on Growing Epilepsy Awareness. Find more information about Epilepsy Foundation and Fundraiser