Liliane's amazing fundraising
Liliane’s an unsung hero of fundraising. At just 8 years old, she’s walked 100 miles in 100 days, as part of their Challenge 100 event, and raised over £1,100 for the Epilepsy Society. She also held a ‘Purple Day’ at her school to raise awareness of epilepsy and raised another £250 for the charity.
We recently chatted with Liliane and her family.
Liliane has epilepsy herself and she says having epilepsy means she has a super brain. She tells us she also has Polymicrogyria, which she says means she has more ‘wiggly bits on my brain than other people.’ Her condition means she sometimes forgets things easily and can get very tired.
She proudly tells us ‘I do everything that everyone else does in Beavers and Cubs. I just have a volunteer to keep a special eye on me in case I stop and need a minute before carrying on. My absolute favourite ever thing is archery and tomahawk throwing. I love it when we do silly games, too.’
Liliane’s fundraising is outstanding. She’s raised over £1,450 for the Epilepsy Society by completing a 100-mile walk and a sponsored school event. Although Liliane says she doesn’t always like walking, she wanted to raise money to help young people, just like her.
It should have taken her 100 days, but she completed the walking challenge a lot quicker than planned. Some days she walked a mile, other days more. She also took on all weather conditions. Liliane says, ‘I enjoyed walking in the snow, and it was quite fun in the rain. I liked that my mum and dad and sometimes my friends came, too.’
Did she ever feel like giving up on her walk? ‘Not really,’ she says.
She had a countdown, so she could see the finish line. Her Group Scout Leader and Cub leader came to watch her finish the walk. This was especially meaningful, as it was during lockdown and Liliane hadn’t seen them for a long time.
So, why did Liliane want to help? She tells us that ‘I wanted to talk about what it’s like to be me, so they (the Epilepsy Society) could tell people about my epilepsy and hopefully make more money for medical people to help others with epilepsy too.’
Liliane’s next dream is to climb the One World Trade centre in New York. ‘I want to climb up all the stairs to the top!’ she says.
As well as her fundraising, Liliane’s also designed a Christmas card for the Epilepsy Society and fronted their Christmas campaign. Earlier this year, she was also a well deserved winner in the Chief Scout's Unsung Heroes award in 2022. Well done, Liliane!