Walking for a Cause
A teenager with epilepsy organizes a Loop the Loop fundraiser at Wrightsville Beach
BY Taylor Hammeke
Isabella Cox was diagnosed with epilepsy in the third grade.
“I was diagnosed with benign rolandic epilepsy at 9 years old and on medication for four years,” says Cox, a senior in the International Baccalaureate program at Hoggard High School and president of the school’s National Honor Society.
She has been seizure-free for six years and is no longer on medication.
The beginning years were isolating as there wasn’t a support group in Wilmington. She eventually learned about the North Carolina Epilepsy Alliance. She began participating in and organizing virtual fundraisers for the Epilepsy Medication Fund, which helps people who need financial assistance.
Epilepsy medications can be prohibitively expensive for those not covered by insurance. The Wake Forest School of Medicine website says the fund “saves lives [and] prevents hospitalizations, injuries and emotional toil.”
After attending a dinner in Winston-Salem where she was recognized as an Epilepsy Alliance Ambassador for her fundraising efforts, Isabella wanted to start something in Wilmington.
“I was inspired to start Loop the Loop for Epilepsy,” she says.
The inaugural Loop the Loop, held in Wrightsville Beach in 2022, raised $40,000 for the Epilepsy Medication Fund.
“It was really exciting to see so many people come out to support and care about a cause so close to my heart,” Cox says.
A few months after the 2022 Loop the Loop, she met a girl who benefited from the event. The funding provided a bracelet that recognizes when someone is having a seizure. Isabella has the same hot pink bracelet. She told the girl that they were twins.
“It was so heartwarming and exciting to see a tangible example of someone benefiting from Loop the Loop,” she says.
This year’s Loop the Loop is scheduled for 2 p.m. Oct. 15 at Wrightsville Beach Park, with a goal to raise $50,000. Participants will walk the Wrightsville Beach loop and enjoy local food trucks. Learn more or register at looptheloopwalk.com.
‘GO GIRL’ as an individual that also suffered from epilepsy, I want to thank you for all you have done and are doing. I will be 70 in November. Most of my friends and family never thought I would see this age. I had surgery in December of ’95, and was having 30 seizures a month. My last seizure was May of ’96. I was fortunate to have insurance, or probably could not have afforded surgery. I try to also help with the medication fund, to help others that otherwise could not afford their medicine.
What this is all about is to ‘Thank you’, more than words can say. When I see that number, showing what you have raised, as well as your target is for this year, it makes me shiver. I know to do this you must have a good team, but without a great coach, the best players in the world would never make it.
Thanks again for all your service and love,
Jim Mitchell
336-983-4107 (W)