By Morwenna Blake

EPILEPSY affects more than 300,000 people in this country, 100,000 of whom are children.

About 40m people worldwide have this condition, yet it is often misunderstood and has never achieved the high profile of diseases such as cancer and Aids.

Westbury resident Mark Mead will be trying to raise this profile, along with much-needed funds for the National Society for Epilepsy's Sea Horse Appeal, next weekend.

Mr Mead will be competing in the annual Weston-Super-Mare motorcycle race for the eighth time on October 22. His entrance fee was paid for by Roger Barton Taxis in Westbury.

He will be taking part in memory of five-year-old Adam Pritchard, who died as the result of an epileptic seizure in December last year.

Adam, described by his mother Elaine as "a happy, ordinary five-year-old boy," was a pupil at Lowbourne Infants' School, Melksham.

Mrs Pritchard and her husband, Neil, have one other son, James, aged three.

Adam's grandmother, Ann Poolman, lives next door to the Mead family, and he often played with the younger three of their five children.

Adam was diagnosed with epilepsy at just eight months old. As in many cases the cause of his condition was never identified.

Mrs Pritchard said: "No-one could ever give us a reason why he had it."

Anti-epileptic medication can control seizures in 80 per cent of cases but there are still more than a thousand victims of SUDEP, Sudden Unexpected Death in Epilepsy, in the UK each year.

Elaine and Neil Pritchard feel that, at the time of his death, Adam's medication was just beginning to control his seizures.

His sudden death stunned family and friends. Mrs Pritchard said: "It was completely unexpected. No-one ever told us he was going to die. No-one expected him to die."

The Pritchard family, and friends such as Mark and Sue Mead, want to increase awareness and knowledge of epilepsy and to highlight the need for funds to research its causes and treatment.

Adam's grandmother said: "If there was more research, in time it would help people like Adam. People need to be more aware of this illness."

Sponsor forms for Mr Mead can be found at Petra's Takeaway and Swags and Tails in Westbury and in the MX Gear motorcycle shop in Trowbridge. Mr Mead can be reached on (01373) 858604.