(1888PressRelease)
May 19, 2009 - As National Epilepsy Week approaches, highly acclaimed speaker, writer and consultant Mindy Gibbins-Klein has revealed her heartbreaking loss of two close friends to the disease and is encouraging anyone who has experienced similar stories, to write and publish matters which are of importance to them as way of dealing with their grief.
At the time of losing two of her best friends to epilepsy several years ago,Ms. Gibbins-Klein knew very little about epilepsy, nor did she realise that she was going to experience such a dramatic change in her life.
"Losing not one, but two of my closest friends to epilepsy in such a short space of time was absolutely devastating and really made me take stock of life and grasp the opportunities that were being presented to me at the time," says Ms Gibbins-Klein, who lives with her husband and two children in St Albans.
After accepting that her pain was actually a privilege, Ms Gibbins-Klein decided to take full advantage of this realisation and wrote and published her first book 'A Dance in the Desert' (£12.99, iUniverse.com), became an accredited volunteer for the largest epilepsy charity in the UK, and introduced two flourishing businesses which aim to assist others in writing and publishing important stories.
"A Dance in the Desert was my way of dealing with the loss of my friends in a way which gave my grief a sense of purpose and helped me to ensure that their legacy lived on through my writing. I also decided that a portion of the proceeds from any sales of the book would be donated to Epilepsy Action to fund the helpline so that others have access to support that my friends didn't have at the time," reveals Ms Gibbins-Klein.
According to Epilepsy Action, there are currently 456,000 people across the UK suffering from epilepsy and agree that greater awareness of the condition is needed to help save more lives.
National Epilepsy Week will take place 17-23 May, 2009. 'A Dance in the Desert' is available to buy from Amazon.
###
