SUPPORTERS of epilepsy charity SUDEP Action have praised the fundraising efforts of Alton newsagent Porters’ News.
Porters’, in the High Street, is used by Alton couple Roger and Sandie Scrivens, who lost their daughter Becky, 11, to SUDEP – Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy – in 2004. She was diagnosed with epilepsy a week before she died.
More than 600 young people in the UK are SUDEP victims every year and SUDEP Action works to change this, as many deaths are preventable through knowledge of SUDEP risk and following simple steps to reduce it.
Mr Scrivens, of Basingstoke Road, said: “We and SUDEP Action are overwhelmed by the support we continue to receive from the staff and customers at Porters’.
“Back in January we reported how Porters’, urged on by staff member Wendy, had already collected over £500 in Becky’s memory and were determined to double this by the year end. That target was actually passed in September and by the end of October donations were standing at an incredible £1,200.
“I know that Wendy is quite fixated on reaching £1,500 before the end of the year, bless her. She comments on the weight of the counter collection pot every day when I walk down to the shop to collect The Times and, on Thursdays, the Herald.”
For SUDEP information see www.sudep.org, and for Becky’s story see www.beckysstory.com