This page has been created to allow you to e-mail your congressman directly and inform him or her of the need for increased federal dollars to support research in epilepsy. You may want to reflect on some of the facts and figures noted on the Epilepsy Council of Southeast Louisiana's (ECSELA) web pages before doing so. I would be surprised if Congress knew the following facts:

1. Twenty-five million Americans (one in every ten) have had, or will have, a seizure at some point in their lives.
2. Prevalence: About 2,500,000 people in the U.S. have some form of epilepsy. Thirty percent of them are children under the age of 18. A large number of children and adults have undetected or untreated epilepsy.
3. Incidence: About 125,000 newly diagnosed cases each year.
4. Age of onset: Epilepsy primarily affects children and young adults, although anyone can get epilepsy at anytime. Twenty percent of cases develop before the age of five. Fifty percent develop before the age of 25. It is also increasingly associated with the elderly, and there are as many cases of epilepsy in those 60 years of age and older as in children 10 years of age and under.
5. Causes: In about 70% of cases there is no known cause.
6. There are more than twice as many people with epilepsy in the U.S. as the number of people with cerebral palsy (500,000), muscular dystrophy (250,000), multiple sclerosis (350,000), and cystic fibrosis (30,000) combined.

The only way epilepsy will be resolved is through research dollars. Tell your congressman how important such research is to you and your family.

To access the Congressional e-mail Web site press here .