The Epilepsy Foundation of Northern California
The Epilepsy Foundation of Northern California (EFNC) is a 501(c)(3) charitable organization leading the fight to overcome the challenges of living with epilepsy and to accelerate therapies to stop seizures, find cures, and save lives.
Epilepsy Foundation of Northern California is dedicated to providing information, resources, and support to the over 180,000 Northern Californians living with epilepsy.
Our goal is to ensure that people with seizures are able to participate in all life experiences, to improve how the community views epilepsy, and to dispel myths about this condition by providing information through training, events, and programs.
We are currently serving 44 counties from the Oregon border down to Fresno County.
What Is Epilepsy?
Epilepsy is a medical condition that produces seizures that impact a variety of mental and physical functions. It’s also called a seizure disorder. A seizure occurs when a brief, strong surge of electrical activity affects parts or all of the brain. When a person has two or more unprovoked seizures, they are considered to have epilepsy.
Epilepsy is the fourth most common neurological disorder in the United States after migraines, strokes and Alzheimer’s disease. Its prevalence is greater than autism spectrum disorder, cerebral palsy, multiple sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease combined. Despite how common the condition is, and the major advances in diagnosis and treatment, epilepsy is among the least understood of the major chronic conditions.
Anyone can develop epilepsy. Seizures start for the first time in people over age 65 almost as often as they do in children. Seizures in the elderly are often the aftereffect of other health problems like stroke and heart disease.
- 65 MILLION people around the world have epilepsy
- 1 IN 26 people in the United States will develop epilepsy at some point in their lifetime
- 7 OUT OF 10 people with epilepsy have an unknown cause