As part of this year’s Scotiabank BuskerFest activities, the Canadian Epilepsy Alliance officially launched a new comic series designed to educate children about the most common neurological disorder in Canada, epilepsy. The Medikidz Explain Epilepsy comic series tells a fictional story based on the experiences of 14-year-old Jack who is navigating middle school while living with epilepsy.
The Medikidz are five energetic, larger-than-life superheroes on a mission to help young people better understand epilepsy. Chi, Pump, Skinderella, Axon and Gastro take children on a journey through Mediland – an outerspace planet shaped just like the human body to explain the diagnosis, investigation and treatment of this neurological condition.
The colourful event included the real-life MediKidz action heroes as well as a series of special guest speakers. Our own Rachael-Lea Rickards from Epilepsy Toronto brought an electric energy to the crowd as the MC for the event. Dr. Cecil Hahn from SickKids spoke to the importance of new education tools like the comic book to help children better understand the disorder. But by far, the most powerful speaker was Adam Shapiro, a young teenager diagnosed with epilepsy when he was just twelve years old. Adam spoke to the crowd about his diagnosis, how he overcomes epilepsy each and everyday with the support of family and friends – he expressed to the crowd and media how important this new comic book will be to a new generation of children. Just like Jack, the books fictional character, Adam knows what it’s like to try and understand what epilepsy is and what it means.
The MediKidz Explain Epilepsy comic series will be made available in local communities across the country through the Canadian Epilepsy Alliance, please visit » OPEN LINK for more information or requests.