Sofie's Journey Inc is getting ready to run an online auction fundraiser.

http://www.epilepsyawarenessday.org/

EPILEPSY AWARENESS DAY AT DISNEYLAND RESORT (EADDL) ANNOUNCED   FOR NOVEMBER 2nd and 3rd, 2016

EADDL is the combined effort of one family’s thankfulness for their daughter’s recovery
(now 7 years since her last seizure) and a united community’s passion for winning the fight against epilepsy. 
Epilepsy Awareness and Education Expo @ The Disneyland Hotel November 2, 2016 10am-5:00pm 
Epilepsy Awareness Day @ Disneyland November 3, 2016 9am-park closing 
Sofie's school day was almost always cut short. She’d suffer a seizure at noon and spend the rest of the day recovering from it. Medication was no help. 
Seven years ago, the now 16 year old underwent surgery to remove a part of her brain that her parents called “the troublemaker” which stilled the chaotic electrical storms in her head. Sofie’s freedom from seizures inspired Sofie and her folks to create Epilepsy Awareness Day at Disneyland Resort, which returns this November for it’s fourth year. “EADDL needs to bring this misunderstood condition that will develop in 1 of every 26 people at some point in their lifetime, to light.” 
This year EADDL will again be partnering with the International League Against Epilepsy (ILAE), the International Bureau for Epilepsy (IBE), and Citizens United for Research (CURE) in their commitment to uniting the world’s epilepsy communities. This year’s event is expected to draw approximately 80 national and regional epilepsy support groups and 2,500 people from 6 continents, as far away as the UK, Germany, South America, and Australia, to Anaheim, Calif. 
“We are so proud to be working with the world recognized governing body, and almost every great support group for epilepsy advocacy”, says Candy Levy, event coordinator and most importantly Sofie’s Mom. “When Sofie’s surgeon, Dr. Gary Mathern said that his friends at the ILAE wanted to talk to us about pushing for international unity, we couldn’t wait to be a part.” 

Sofie’s Journey/ EADDL is a 501©3 Non-Profit
www.EpilepsyAwarenessDay.org FB.com/EpilepsyAwarenessDay
Epilepsy affects about 2.2 million Americans, according to the Institute of Medicine of the National Academy of Sciences report. Onset occurs at any age; how ever is most common in children, the elderly and those with traumatic head injuries such as athletes and veterans. 
Sofie was just 5 when her parents noticed the brief blank staring spells. “She would just check-­out for a second or two, cognitively she was gone,” Brad says. “We couldn’t get a handle on it. We couldn’t tell if she was playing with us. Then she lost speech and we knew something was wrong.” Three years and many treatments later, the seizures only intensified. 

“Epilepsy is the fourth most common neurological disorder in the U.S. after migraine, stroke and Alzheimer’s disease, yet it receives less than a tenth of the research funding of any one of them.” Fortunately, the Levys found that brain surgery was Sofie’s best option, not last option. They headed to UCLA for testing and surgery, and the rest is now history. 
With no big name celebrity spokesperson and with centuries of stigma, epilepsy is in the shadows. Too few talk about it, often doctors miss epilepsy until a convulsion occurs. Epilepsy is not well understood, is under diagnosed, and new treatments are slow to come to market, leaving over 30% of the children with uncontrolled epilepsy. 
“Sofie was lucky, we could get to the source of the seizures. Stopping the seizures allowed the other parts of her brain to function well so she could live well. Since surgery she has been seizure free, doing great in school, learned Hebrew and sign language, and has started studying Neurodiagnostics, so that she can soon be a working EEG Tech. Sofie’s father, Brad, now runs a private, in-­home EEG monitoring service, EEG TO GO catering to kids with Autism and Epilepsy. Sofie plans to follow that same road. 
In addition to gathering folks this November, a new found focus for this event will be to spread awareness for the new International Epilepsy Day. “We’re hoping that all of our guests will go back to their home towns and spread the word that there is now an international day for hope. We’re just super excited.” said Brad Levy, event director. 
Join over 2,500 anticipated ticketed participants us as we flood the Disneyland Park in our EADDL puprle event T-­Shirts on what would ordinarily be a slow day! Also check the website for more information and for links for ticket purchases and discounted hotel rates. 

New to 2016 Event- November 2nd at 7:30 pm @ Disneyland Hotel

http://rickspringfield2016eaddl.bpt.me/

RICK SPRINGFIELD;STRIPPED DOWN benefitting Epilepsy Awareness, Education and Research
This is a one of a kind evening to help raise Epilepsy Awareness and STOP THE STIGMA. This event is capping off a day of listening & learning~about everything epilepsy related. Come join for an epic night of songs that you know you love! Please see event website to understand the cause. www.epilepsyawarenessday.org

Over the past three decades, Rick Springfield has worn many hats as an entertainer and performer. The creator of some of the finest power-pop of the 80s, hes a Grammy Award-winning singer, songwriter, and musician who has sold 25 million albums and scored 17 U.S. Top 40 hits, including Jessies Girl, Dont Talk to Strangers, An Affair of the Heart, I've Done Everything for You, Love Somebody, and Human Touch. Hes an accomplished actor who most recently starred opposite Meryl Streep in the feature film Ricki and the Flash and gave a chameleonic performance as the creepy Dr. Pitlor in HBOs prestige drama True Detective. Hes also a talented author  both his candid 2010 memoir Late, Late at Night (which Rolling Stone named one of the 25 greatest rock memoirs of all time) and his 2014 comedic novel Magnificent Vibration earned rave reviews and spots on the New York Times Best Sellers list. In 2013, Springfield wrote and recorded The Man That Never Was with Dave Grohl for the soundtrack to Sound City  the Foo Fighters frontmans documentary about the San Fernando Valley recording studio that was Springfields home away from home (his manager owned the building). Rolling Stone called Springfields touching interview in the film its breakout story. In 2014, Springfield was honored with a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, located around the corner from the first apartment he lived in when he first arrived in the U.S. from Australia in 1971.

That Springfield has not only enjoyed longevity, but remained vibrant and relevant at a time when many veteran artists would be resting on past laurels led Rolling Stone to dub this stage of his career The Rickonaissance. I guess it may appear like that, but in my head, Ive never really left, Springfield says. I think its really important to stay connected to the vitality of your career. I have a certain pride that I'm not a total nostalgia act. I've never been the guy who hung the platinum albums on my walls because, to me, it was looking back. I'm very passionate about moving forward. I have to write new music. I have to record. Im always working on the live shows. I have to always be working, otherwise I think Id just turn to smoke and disappear.

Springfields latest musical effort is Rocket Science, his 18th studio album, which he will release in February through Frontiers Music. Written largely with his longtime collaborator and former bass player Matt Bissonette, the album delivers the expertly crafted wide-ranging pop-rock songs Springfield is known for. I wanted the album to be very open and electric  rock and roll with some country elements, and always with great hooks, he says. The lyrics largely address matters of the heart with the irreverence, wit, and dark humor that has always permeated his work. The songs usually start with titles for me, Springfield says. A title will catch my eye and inspire a lyric. Both Matt and I are happily married, but there's some heartache on this one. You can't just write about how everything is all good and bore people out of their minds. When different emotions come up, I just go with that. I dont set out to write about anything in particular. I just look for something that feels true and that I can hopefully say in an interesting way.

While on a rare vacation in Tahiti, Springfield wrote the rollicking first single Light This Party Up, which he describes as a song about redemption and how life sometimes feels like one long fall from grace. He wrote Down, a song about disillusionment and commitment, with Rascal Flatts Jay DeMarcus while traveling on DeMarcus tour bus to Atlanta, where the two were filming an episode of Drop Dead Diva. Jay came up with the title Down and we were off to the races, Springfield says. By the time we were halfway to Nashville the melody and structure of the song were complete, as if by magic. I love it when that happens. Written with Bissonette, That One has a vulnerability characteristic of Springfields most emotionally resonant songs. Who of us hasnt had some heartless lover crap on us and our tender feelings? he says. This song hits home for me both as the protagonist and the victim. I have been both the crapee and the craper, Im ashamed to admit. A dobro guitar lends down-home flair to the rock stomper Miss Mayhem, which Springfield wrote with The Hold Steadys Tad Kubler. Ah, Miss Mayhem, he says. We have all met her or him at some point in our romantic past. A burning hot, amazing-in-bed, beautiful/handsome, wack-job! Songs like Pay It Forward, Crowded Solitude, and We Connect are imbued with a sense of spirituality that has been reflected in Springfields songwriting since his album Living in Oz. Ive been sneaking it in there since 1983, he says.

Music has always been a healing force in the Australian-born Springfields life. The son of an Army officer, Rick and his family moved every two years. Which meant every time I made a friend, I knew Id be leaving him, he says. It was super stressful for me. Id go to a new school and go through the trauma of trying to fit in. Books and records became his savior. Then at age 11, he encountered his first guitar. This kid brought one to a Christmas fair at my school in England and it was the most beautiful thing I had ever seen, Springfield recalls. He let me hold it. I hit two strings and the two strings happened to be the first couple of notes of the theme song to my favorite cowboy show at the time, Cheyenne. I realized instantly I could play the guitar. Some guys fall in love with cars, some with football teams. I fell in love with guitars.

It has been a long and fruitful affair, and one that has gifted him with a powerful connection to his legions of devoted fans, who pack his annual fan getaway events, as well as the nearly 100 shows a year he performs both with his band and solo in an intimate storyteller setting that he captured on the 2015 CD/DVD and concert film Stripped Down. Though too self-deprecating to discuss his immense appeal, he will acknowledge that the fans connect with him through the music. I guess they think I'm honest, he says. They must like my approach, what I write about. I think they like that I have a sense of humor in it at times. Because the cute thing isn't going to last forever.