Branksome alum and past parent Sasha DARLING'87 recently shared a powerful and timely message with the school. Tragically, Sasha and her partner Constance lost their beautiful daughter, Grace Peebles (step-sister of Brooke DARLING-CARTWRIGHT ’20), to Sudden Unexpected Death In Epilepsy (SUDEP) in April of 2021. Today, October 18, 2023 is SUDEP Action Day, and as deaths from epilepsy are rarely publicly discussed, reliable data on the number of people who die of SUDEP is not readily available. Information about SUDEP, including possible risk factors, is often not shared and there has been little directed research on SUDEP within Canada. Many of those who die from SUDEP are young—Grace was 23 years old—and, as Sasha notes, the fact that SUDEP is impacting young people and all their hopes, dreams and the gifts they could have brought to this world, makes the lack of research, information or data collection profoundly distressing. 

 

Family friends have funded a SUDEP Research Grant in memory of Grace through Epilepsy Canada to fund focused research which may help to prevent some of these enormous losses. Today, Epilepsy Canada will announce, as part of their work to raise awareness about SUDEP, the Grace Peebles New Investigator Award (SUDEP Research Grant). In 2022, this Grant began funding targeted research on SUDEP, and current research is underway to look at whether epilepsy surgery can potentially prevent SUDEP in children. Epilepsy Canada will be using Grace’s photo and her story in their public education efforts to raise awareness about SUDEP in Canada. More information about SUDEP Action Day can be found in this SUDEP One-Pager.