Story
It's not who she is
You probably know someone who has been "sick". There's so much "sick" in this world, it's almost impossible to not know someone who hasn't had a sickness like cancer, heart failure, the flu, etc. Yet for 14 year-old Sara-Elizabeth Clark, who has epilepsy, there is no reason why being "sick" should control her life.
Epilepsy is a disorder of the nervous system that, in extreme cases, is characterized by seizures, or random convulsions of the body. When Sara was 16 months old, she started having seizures on a daily basis. However, she has luckily not suffered any seizures since 1999. However, she does suffer from migraines as a result of her seizures, as well as short-term memory loss.
Sara began to teach her community about the disease, seeing as most people don't fully understand it. "I started doing community events to raise money and generate awareness about epilepsy when I was 10," she says. It was hard at first. "Some people are just afraid of the unknown. Some people just do not want to learn to change their opinions." Yet Sara did not let a few unreceptive people slow her down. She worked tirelessly to start a massive fundraiser for epilepsy patients, beginning with a run/walk event, called "Sara's Walk for Epilepsy". Since then, Sara has held four walks and has earned $50,000 for people with epilepsy!
She credits her success to her community. "My community came out to support me over the past four years [and] made it a success! I cannot thank them enough!"
Sara is remarkable in that she accepts her illness. "God put me on earth to help others. He gave me epilepsy so I have a firsthand experience to understand it, then relieved me from my seizures so I could help others."
But most importantly, Sara is not a girl with epilepsy. She is a girl. She is very quick to say that she refuses to allow epilepsy to define her. Sara calls herself "an outgoing teenager, loyal to my friends and family. I love to read, hang out with friends, [listen to] music, etc." When she grows up, she wants to be a rabbi. "I am currently plotting my eventual takeover of the world," she jokes.
However, Sara shows the endurance to keep fighting for epilepsy patients as long as she can. "Until there is a cure my work will never finish."
Sara's biography, Being Sara, will be released this fall. Please visit her website www.itsnotwhoiam.com to order the book and learn more about Sara's cause.
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