Blacktie Beat: Chelsea’s Gala 2012

I love this photo of a young girl and her seizure-response dog in training. It was taken at the Chelsea Hutchinson Foundation’s 3rd Annual Chelsea’s Gala, benefiting people with epilepsy. All the party pictures are here. — Penny Parker.

Chloe Young poses with her seizure-response dog in training, Crush.

By Janet Snell-Bergeon
BLACKTIE-COLORADO

On Thursday, May 3, 2012, the 3rd Annual Chelsea’s Gala was hosted by the Chelsea Hutchison Foundation at Cielo at Castle Pines, Colorado.

The Chelsea Hutchison Foundation is a Colorado non-profit corporation formed to help individuals who have epilepsy. The main focus is to raise funds for trained seizure-response dogs that may be able to detect an oncoming seizure and provide warnings, and/or respond after the onset. Many of the seizure-response dogs were in attendance at this year’s event, and special guests Robert and Amber Marsh talked about how Robert’s seizure-response dog has saved him from crossing a busy street when he was about to have a seizure.

The Chelsea Hutchison Foundation also provides Emfit movement monitors, which are the latest technology for monitoring an individual who may experience seizures during sleep, nike kobe 9 elite gs which a caregiver or family member should be alerted to. Special guest Ann Speer told guests about how she slept on the floor in her son’s room for four years, monitoring him for seizures during the night, until the Chelsea Hutchison Foundation was able to provide her family with an Emfit monitor. In the past two years, they have provided grants for 26 seizure-response dogs and have provided 43 Emfit monitors.

The Foundation is named for the Hutchison’s beloved daughter, Chelsea, who died in her sleep during a seizure in April of 2009. SUDEP (Sudden Unexplained Death in Epilepsy) was the cause of her death. During the six years that Chelsea had seizures, no one ever told her family that a seizure could take her life, other than through an accidental fall or drowning. As a result this omission, the Chelsea Hutchison Foundation informs those living with epilepsy of the risks and raises awareness of SUDEP so that no other families are blind-sided.

Guests enjoyed a heavy hors d’oeuvres buffet by Occasions Catering while browsing the silent auction. Once again, Deb Sheppard of KOSI was the emcee along with Jeremy Jojola of 9 News. Gary Corbett of Corbett Auctions hosted the live auction. This year, Connor Doran, the young man living with epilepsy who was a finalist in the top 12 of The America’s Got Talent 2010 was the special guest and performer. Connor wowed the audience with his indoor kite flying. He dedicated the second performance to Chelsea, and flew his kite to one of her favorite singers, Frank Sinatra.