Intrepid duo with epilepsy prepare to run half marathon to raise awareness of the condition

Two young men from Leeds with epilepsy are preparing to run a half marathon this weekend to raise awareness about the condition.

- by Jennifer Cartwright

Ciaran and Will first met on a run a few months ago and bonded over their experiences of epilepsy

Ciaran Monaghan, 27 and William Chadwick, 24, will run a total of 13.1 miles at Temple Newsam's Winter Warmer Run on Saturday February 21, to encourage more conversations around epilepsy and to support the charity Epilepsy Action.

Epilepsy is a neurological condition which causes recurring seizures and affects approximately 630,000 people in the UK.

It's a condition that Ciaran was diagnosed with just last year following a seizure while waiting for a flight at an airport in China.

Ciaran said: "In February last year I was travelling back from Thailand and had a layover in Beijing. I don't even remember what happened, I just woke up in the Beijing hospital.

"When I came around from it all, it was a bit crazy. I just felt weird, I didn't feel myself."

Four months later, Ciaran experienced a series of more seizures and was diagnosed with epilepsy.

Will meanwhile discovered he had the condition far earlier at 13 years old. For the past 11 years, he has regularly experienced convulsive, vacant, and non-epileptic seizures.