Over the past nine years, 17 year old Shannon has experienced the difficulties of living with a chronic illness while trying to going about her everyday life. At the age of eight, Shannon had her first seizure. At the hospital, she was diagnosed with temporal lobe epilepsy. She describes her seizures as the ‘funny feelings’.
In an instant, Lauren went from being a normal kid to having to go to the hospital three times a week for dialysis.
In 2017, Helium Arts’ Pop Up Picnic visited family homes in Kildare, bringing a sprinkling of joy, creativity and play to young children with complex needs. One of those children was Ailís, who was born with a rare genetic disorder and has both complex intellectual and physical needs.
Stephen enjoyed his day-to-day life like every child, until he got his first seizure at 13 years old. A short while later, he experienced a second seizure and was diagnosed with epilepsy.
Sophia is 14. This year Sophia participated in a Helium Arts’ project, bringing together a group of teenagers over the course of 2018 for artmaking workshops in partnership with Epilepsy Ireland. The group Sophia worked with all have epilepsy, many with additional needs. They called themselves Electric Feathers.