Abstracts

Rationale: Elite athletes, as celebrity-icons, assist in the social wellbeing of patients. Athlete-patient interactions destigmatize illness while ennobling athletes/patients/society. Athletes can bring those with illnesses out of the shadows. ILAE Sports and Epilepsy Task Force directed Stand Up For Epilepsy (SUFE), an international project involving action photographs of persons with epilepsy (PWE) with elite athletes. The North American photo-shoots served as a personal odyssey. Methods: SUFE San Diego photo-essay with commentary. Results: Photo-shoots involved 7000+ miles travelled/7 photographers/10 PWE/33 athletes/11 national teams. Each photo-shoot held personal significance for the senior author culminating in the San Diego photo-shoot: 1300+ photographs/24 athletes/9 PWE. Parents' comments summarized the significance of SUFE and the senior author's role: "You don't know how special it is for these children…they are playing with Olympians as people; no one cares about their epilepsy…but look at you, you have epilepsy and look how far you have gone - you are a doctor/psychiatrist, on an international Task Force, competed internationally, have a gold medal…do you have any idea what a representative and role model you are for these children about how far a PWE can go…you have proven there is no limit." The odyssey was completed when one parent simply stated "Do you know how proud your mother is of you? Today you really made your mother proud to be a mother." Conclusions: SUFE initiated athlete-PWE interactions with positive PWE/athlete/parent responses. Expansion of SUFE is recommended to further destigmatize epilepsy. Participation in SUFE can serve as a personal odyssey for PWE.