A year after Jim Mitchell's surgery, he showed up with a paper bag filled with cash at the annual Chili Cookoff at the Piedmont Triad Farmers Market in Greensboro. Mitchell told Patricia Gibson, director of the Epilepsy Information Service at Wake Forest Baptist Health, that the money represented how much he would have spent on medications without surgery. He donated that money to the Chili Cookoff, a fundraiser for the Epilepsy Medication Fund, a program started by the Epilepsy Information Service in the 90’s.
Mitchell tears up when he talks about how his life changed after surgery. “It was a miraculous time at the hospital, celebrating,” he said. The end of May 1996 was his last seizure. “I never believed I would see that day.” In the 20 years since, Mitchell remains a major contributor to the Epilepsy Medication Fund. “Any amount that I can give each year to Pat and the Epilepsy Information Service Medication Fund is a real blessing,” Mitchell says. “It gives me a reason to work.”
Mitchell tears up when he talks about how his life changed after surgery. “It was a miraculous time at the hospital, celebrating,” he said. The end of May 1996 was his last seizure. “I never believed I would see that day.” In the 20 years since, Mitchell remains a major contributor to the Epilepsy Medication Fund. “Any amount that I can give each year to Pat and the Epilepsy Information Service Medication Fund is a real blessing,” Mitchell says. “It gives me a reason to work.”