Sara Sherwood's Fundraiser
I am running to Protect Kids with Epilepsy
Please support my Marathon for Danny Did Foundation
A supporter of Sara Sherwood
I donated in support of this campaign.
Thank you for considering a donation to support my 26.2 mile Chicago Marathon run dedicated to those facing epilepsy.
Our son Everett was diagnosed with Infantile Spasms, a catastrophic type of epilepsy, at 11 months old. Over the course of the following year, we tried multiple medications which all failed to get control of his seizures. We lived in fear every day of losing our son to epilepsy. In April, 2020 Everett had a radical brain surgery known as a hemispherectomy after we were told that a malformation in his brain was causing his seizures. Our best hope for controlling his epilepsy was to remove a portion of the left hemisphere of his brain and disconnect the remaining brain tissue from the healthy side to hopefully stop the dozens of daily seizures he was having. We are so thankful that epilepsy surgery worked and gave us hope that he might actually be able to be free from seizures.
While Everett may not still have daily seizures, epilepsy is still very much a part of our daily lives. Everett will forever live with the residual effects of the seizures he suffered and the surgery that saved his life. Epilepsy forever changed our lives.
On behalf of Everett and the 1 in 26 people who will be diagnosed with epilepsy in their lifetimes, we are committed to raising awareness of epilepsy and epilepsy surgery and to working to support families and others facing a new diagnosis of epilepsy. We are also dedicated to bringing awareness to SUDEP, which is how we discovered the Danny Did Foundation.
The mission of the Danny Did Foundation is near and dear to our hearts and I am honored to be running the Chicago Marathon as a part of Team Danny Did this year. I hope you will consider contributing to my fundraising efforts to support the Danny Did Foundation and follow along on my journey to 26.2 miles through the streets of the Windy City in October 2025!
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About Danny Did Foundation
Founded by Chicago parents Mike and Mariann Stanton in 2010 after the sudden death of their four-year-old son Danny, the Danny Did Foundations primary mission is to prevent deaths caused by seizures. The Foundation advances public awareness of epilepsy and Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP), strives to improve communication about SUDEP between medical professionals and families affected by seizures, and advocates for the mainstream acceptance and use of seizure detection and prediction devices that may assist in preventing seizure-related deaths.
Epilepsy affects 3.4 million people in the United States and 65 million people worldwide. One in 26 Americans will develop epilepsy during their lifetime. But what few people understand, including many people with epilepsy, is that seizures can be fatal. More people die as a result of seizures than from fires and sudden infant death syndrome (SIDS) combined. In addition to deaths caused by drowning, other accidents, and status epilepticus (prolonged seizures), thousands of deaths occur annually from SUDEP, a fact that is little known and too rarely addressed by medical professionals and in public discussions of epilepsy. Danny Did Foundation takes its name from the last line of Danny Stanton’s obituary, written by his dad: “Please go and enjoy your life. Danny did.” We celebrate Danny’s spirit in every child and family we reach.