Goin’ For Owen: 5K for Dravet began on National Dravet Awareness day, June 23rd 2016. Owen’s parents are runners and dreamed of hosting a casual and fun event to support Owen’s daily fight with Dravet syndrome, while helping to fund research to find a cure.

“For the last two years we have been so blessed to plan and organize Goin’ For Owen (GFO). We have been humbled to raise nearly $30,000 for DSF. Owen has daily seizures, so we organize GFO so that he may have one day, just one day, without seizures,” Austin Watson said. “Our favorite part of the event is that it gets our family, our friends, and our community together and they get to do it with their families. We are continually in awe at the out pouring of love and support as we raise awareness and funds for this rare form of epilepsy.”

Owen’s family hopes to continue hosting this event for many years to come. Their goal is to make the event bigger and better every year so as to fund even more research to help, not only Owen but, all children with Dravet syndrome.

Since finding out that our son Hunter has Dravet syndrome we have been committed to building awareness of the disease and have tried to raise money to support research so one day a cure would be found.

We have leveraged the virtual fundraisers in 2017 and 2018 and it has certainly enabled us to cast widespread engagement with our family, friends and community through social media.  We are blessed to have such loving and caring family and friends that have supported our campaigns!

DSF is incredibly important to me because my younger brother, Elliot, is diagnosed with Dravet syndrome. Dragnet syndrome is a rare and catastrophic form of epilepsy that includes frequent and/or prolonged seizures, as well as other possible issues such as behavioral and developmental delays, movement and balance issues, delayed language and speech, sensory integration disorders, and others.

Elliot is generally a happy and hilarious kid, but his quality of life has been negatively impacted by having this diagnosis. Thankfully, the Dravet Syndrome Foundation works tirelessly to raise money for research for a cure which offers patients and families hope for their loved ones. I am proud to Race for Research for Elliot and DSF!