State Extends Registration Deadline for Children's of Alabama Help End Epilepsy Specialty Car Tag

BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, the state of Alabama has extended the registration deadline for the Help End Epilepsy specialty car tag to April 30, 2021.

The Help End Epilepsy specialty car tag was approved by the state in March 2020, making it the first specialty car tag in the country to support children with epilepsy. To produce the tag, a minimum requirement of 1,000 commitments must be met within a year of approval. Thanks to a generous donor, the Help End Epilepsy car tag is free to the first 1,000 people to register for the tag. There are currently almost 900 individuals registered for the Help End Epilepsy tag.

Once 1,000 commitments are reached, the tag will be available for $50 at any Alabama Department of Motor Vehicles office. Of that amount, $41.25 from each tag will provide valuable funding for the Pediatric Epilepsy Program at Children’s.

“The Help End Epilepsy tag is critical in highlighting statewide awareness of this disorder, funding research and providing patient care at the Pediatric Epilepsy Program at Children’s of Alabama,” said Emily Hornak, director of cause marketing and corporate partnerships at Children’s. “Supporting this tag shows more than 5,000 patients from across Alabama that people care passionately about helping support the medicine and, ultimately, finding a cure.”

Epilepsy, the most common serious brain disorder worldwide, is the underlying tendency of the brain to produce seizures. The Pediatric Epilepsy Program at Children’s provides care for more than 5,000 children in Alabama, like Rick, using the latest technologies and state-of-the-art facilities to diagnose and treat seizures. The Epilepsy Monitoring Unit (EMU) at Children’s accommodates up to 10 patients daily. The EMU is designated Level 4 by the National Association of Epilepsy Centers (NAEC), which is the highest level for units specializing in a continuum of care for patients from seizure evaluation to seizure treatment plan.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), more than 54,000 people in Alabama are living with epilepsy and seizures, including more than 7,500 children. Over a lifetime, one in 10 people will have a seizure, and one in 26 will be diagnosed with epilepsy.

For more information, or to commit to purchasing a Help End Epilepsy specialty car tag, visit childrensal.org/epilepsy or contact helpendepilepsy@childrensal.org.

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