In June 2011 Gail Miller of Corfe Mullen (Wimborne, Dorset), lost her 22 month old son, Max, to a rare occurrence called Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP).
To commemorate Max's life a group of family, friends and colleagues formed TeamMAX.
I am delighted to say that TeamMAX has to date raised in excess of £50,000. We ran numerous events in 2012 and 2013 including Golf Days, Ladies Evenings, Quiz Nights and a sponsored Supermarket Dash. The events culminated in a Trek in memory of Max and enabled us to achieve our goal to fund a research grant. This research was granted via Epilepsy Action and jointly funded with Dravet Syndrome UK, on behalf of TeamMAX to Queen's College London. The study looked into the onset of heart arrhythmia in children whilst asleep who have Epilepsy & seizure activity - one of the factors which can present in SUDEP.
The aim of our sponsorship and fundraising in 2013-2015 was to raise money for our local Children's unit at Poole Hospital. This unit was vital in it's care of Max and is ongoing in the care of all our children, whether it be an emergency admission, routine care / scheduled operation or ongoing serious care. I am pleased to say our donations of over £10,000 refurbished the two treatment rooms in the unit at Poole General Hospital.
In the past we have held annual Easter Egg Hunts in Wimborne and our popular quiz evenings continue. This year our fundraising marks what would have been the 10th year of Max's life and in his memory his Aunt, my sister Tracy Holman is running the London Marathon for Epilepsy Action. A very fitting tribute and one which will again help other children and their families who live with this condition which is so difficult to manage and medicate, always sadly with a risk of SUDEP and tragically no cure.
You can sponsor Tracy's London Marathon run for Epilepsy Action here.
Thankfully Max was a very happy little boy, energetic and into everything, just like any other toddler and though his life was short, he has made a difference.
Our next event is a Quiz Night in Corfe Mullen on Saturday 6th April 2019 with a fish and chip supper £10 per head. If you would like to get involved and join us at our events, we would love to hear from you.
Thank you to all those who have supported and are part of TeamMAX
Gail, Max's Mummy
Email: gail@teammax.co.uk
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