The Randal Foundation is proud to support HOPE for Epilepsy and help them continue and develop their Anti-Suffocation Pillow Project.
HOPE for Epilepsy donates these pillows – a registered Class 1 Medical Device – to children and young people under the age of 19 who suffer from life-threatening nocturnal convulsive seizures.
Anti-suffocation pillows are designed with a lattice-like structure to allow for greater airflow around the face should a person have a convulsive seizure while lying face-down on a pillow.
A lot of parents/caregivers utilise exhausting measures in monitoring their children while they are sleeping. Including sharing beds, taking turns in staying awake, and regularly waking in the night to check their children. The stress that children/young people feel about the onset of a seizure in the night can also be a trigger for seizures.
These anti-suffocation pillows form a crucial part of helping to normailise night-time routines, reducing stress, and equipping families with knowledge and methods of mitigating the risks associated with Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy (SUDEP).
They allow for valuable time at the onset of a seizure for a parent/carer to attend to their child. This provides all-important supervision during the seizure to enable the parent to monitor the physical safety of their child and to call for prompt medical help if required.
Examples of spontaneous feedback regarding the impact that these pillows have within families include:
“I would like to extend a HUGE heartfelt thank you to HOPE for sending a pillow. As parents, I can’t tell you the relief we feel at night now when he goes to bed. I can’t say we are having sleep-filled nights, but when we do close our eyes, it’s definitely a sounder sleep. This little bit of relief in this awful condition goes a long way.”
