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Katie’s Run returning to Haliburton County

For the eighth year in a row, runners will be raising money for a good cause.

Although it is several months away, Katie’s Run is coming back on July 6th.

According to Geri Woudstra, a member of the organizing committee, the run was named after her daughter Katie who was diagnosed with epilepsy at age 14.

Woudstra told MyHaliburtonNow.com after the diagnosis, friends of theirs conceptualized a run as a way to support them and raise funds for epilepsy research.

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To this day, all of the funds raised continue to be given to epilepsy research.

“We had no idea what epilepsy was, we really didn’t know much about seizures…” said Woudstra trying to explain the challenges attached to learning her daughter was dealing with the neurological disorder.

Woudstra went on to say “I guess we thought, we would see a doctor, they would prescribe medication, and this would become history. But we learned very quickly that epilepsy is complicated.”

“Starting the run really helped,” said Woudstra, “it became a community of people,” She said that through the run they had met other people going through similar circumstances. As well, Woudstra explained that the people involved in the run developed a support system for one another.

She explained that the people involved would network and share doctor’s contact info, the information they found helpful, and things of that nature.

Wouldstra said that although the creation of the run and that support system was cathartic for her, Katie did not feel the same.

Wouldstra explained that in the early days of Katie’s Run, Katie did not want to attach her name to it because of the stigma connected to epilepsy. High school was challenging for her because she was having seizures at the school and lost her friends because of it.

To get more information on Katie’s Run click here.

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