My wife and I moved here a little over 3 years ago for many reasons; closer to family, and the cottage. My wife was also able to open Sydenham Health & Wellness, which was a dream of hers.

Grey and Bruce counties are something we are very familiar with. I grew up visiting family in Southampton and Tara, and our family cottage in Tobermory. This made our transition much easier. Although, the geographic familiarness was there, we didn’t know the vast majority of the population. In our 3 years we have come to realize how caring and thoughtful so many of you are.

I was diagnosed with epilepsy at the age of 16. The last 15 years have been a rollercoaster dealing with the seizure disorder. Approximately 2 years ago, we noticed a void of epilepsy awareness throughout our beautiful area of the world. What started as a search to find awareness or events in our region quickly became a realization  that there wasn’t any. After some discussion with family, we decided to start raising awareness ourselves. Grey/Bruce Epilepsy Awareness was started on all social media platforms to help motivate others, or simply tell my story living with uncontrolled seizures.

The support from our community was overwhelming; many sharing our story, sending us heartfelt messages and emails, and even numerous families reaching out to emphasize, as many of them suffer or know someone who suffers from epilepsy or another seizure disorder.

After months of growth, we decided to try to help further. We connected with Epilepsy Canada in hopes of organizing an annual event in our region dedicated to raising funds for epilepsy research. Many meetings and discussions with Gary Collins and Marina Dunal later, and the Grey/Bruce Epilepsy Classic was starting to take form. We wanted to connect as much as possible with our community for a golf day.

The event took place on September 19th at Legacy Ridge Golf Course. Being our inaugural event, and Covid-19 restricting most of our daily activities, we weren’t sure what to expect. The support of so many of you left my family and I speechless.

We are absolutely thrilled to announce that the inaugural Grey/Bruce Epilepsy Classic raised $17,671.50 towards epilepsy research!

A huge thank you to all sponsors, donors, attendees, volunteers, and anyone who has supported us through this amazing endeavor. None of this would have been possible without the support you’ve shown us time and time again.

We are already working with Epilepsy Canada to help raise awareness throughout Grey/Bruce, but also raise funds for epilepsy research. We can’t wait to see what next year brings, and we hope to see you out on the links with us next year!

Gary Collins gave us some words that I will always remember: “don’t be afraid to tell your story about epilepsy. It may inspire others to do the same.”

https://www.instagram.com/tv/CFknEVMgdgd/?igshid=qv0k9kxqen1y

Alek & Brittany Stewart
Grey/Bruce Epilepsy Awareness