A MOTHER whose eight-year-old daughter suffers up to 30 seizures a day is setting up a support group for other sufferers and their families.

Kristy Langdale’s eight-year-old daughter, Ella, has a rare and severe form of epilepsy, which sees her suffer uncontrollable seizures.

Ella’s condition means she will not enjoy a normal adult life - her mental capacity is likely to remain at the stage she’s at now and she will need constant care throughout her life.

Mrs Langdale, who lives on site at RAF Leeming with her three children and husband Ross, says for families living with epilepsy, it can be an isolating experience.

She said there is still a lot of misunderstanding surrounding seizures, which includes febrile convulsions – which children can grow out of - to mild epilepsy or severe epilepsy, a permanent condition for which there is no cure.

Mrs Langdale says when Ella first began to suffer seizures, there was little support or information available.

She said: “Even if a child suffers a seizure just once, it’s still horrendous.

“I spoke to a lady who was really worried when her child began to suffer fits. Her GP told her to keep an eye on it, but you don’t get support until you’re further down the line and get a diagnosis.”

Mrs Langdale hopes to go some way towards changing that by launching a support group for the North Yorkshire area at RAF Leeming, which she has set up with the help of another mother, Sam Morrison, whose son Leo also has epilepsy.

Mrs Langdale has recently been nominated for a Young Epilepsy Champion Award for her work with the community.

“The group isn’t just going to focus on parents; this condition affects a whole network of people. It can be friends, or siblings, grandparents,” she said.

The mother-of-three, who also has two other children aged six and three, says the group will also be open to friends of epilepsy sufferers.

She says the support from her daughter’s primary school, Leeming RAF Community Primary School has been a “lifeline”.

She said: “The headteacher here, the school, the staff, the pupils and parents; they’ve all been amazing. With my husband being in the RAF he has to work away a lot, so the school is our lifeline.

“The headmaster had an assembly before Ella arrived to speak to the children about her before she started, so they were aware of her condition. There’s never been any bullying, no nastiness. She’s made to feel part of the community.”

For more information about the support group email; kristylangdale@ymail.com or contact her on; 01677-422111.