When Sara Franklin set out on her career as an accredited public relations professional,
nothing could have prepared her for the journey she was unknowingly about to take.

A Birmingham native, Franklin graduated from the University of Alabama with a degree in public relations and communications studies right in the middle of the 2008 financial crisis.

Despite the recession and difficult job market, Franklin landed her first PR job at Tyco, a global security company where she sharpened her writing skills. From there she would go on to work on several local political campaigns while earning her APR certification, landing a position at a Birmingham public relations firm.

After six years with the firm, and just a few months after giving birth to her first child, Sara suddenly began having seizures.

Over an eight-month period, Franklin, who was 30 at the time, had several seizures as doctors tried to find a medication that would work. She was also an outlier for the sudden onset of epilepsy, which is usually found in children and older adults.

“In Alabama, the law says you can’t drive a car six months after each seizure for,” Franklin said. “I was fortunate I had family in town who were able to drive me where I needed to go, but every time I had another seizure, it restarted that six-month clock again.

“Unexpected things like my diagnosis make it easy to lose track of your career. I had to take a break from work to focus on my health, but I knew I wanted to go back to work as soon as possible.”

Sara used that break to find out more about this new affliction she was learning to live with. She never stopped asking questions and seeking advice and encouragement from mentors she knew from her work.

One of those people was Garland Stansell, chief communications officer for Children’s Hospital of Alabama. Franklin didn’t know it at the time, but Stansell was a board member of the Epilepsy Foundation of Alabama.

Stansell’s mom had seizures her entire life, so Garland knew how it could turn a life upside down. But with Franklin’s PR background, he strongly encouraged Sara to apply for the executive director’s position, which had just come open when the last director took a job in the UAB Research Department.

Franklin was hired as executive director of the Epilepsy Foundation of Alabama in 2019. She had never heard of the organization prior to applying for the job and that had her PR radar going off.

“I knew nothing about epilepsy when all this happened, so now I was experiencing that feeling of being the only one having these seizures,” she said. “I was completely alone with it and of the stigma attached to it.”

But Franklin was also motivated by the idea there were a lot of people feeling like her.

“I developed a passion for getting more information out to the public; debunking the stigma; and letting the 54,000 Alabamians with epilepsy know they are not alone, and their condition is a lot more common than they know,” she said. “I also wanted them to know the Epilepsy Foundation has resources available to help and support people with the disorder.”

One in every 10 people will have a seizure in their life. One in every 26 people worldwide will develop epilepsy.

Franklin was aggressive and enthusiastic going into 2020 with numerous educational and informational events scheduled about epilepsy, what it is and what it is not.

Then unforeseen forces intervened in the form of a global pandemic.

The National Epilepsy Foundation, like many other national nonprofits went through some restructuring post-COVID, changing Franklin’s title to Eastern regional director with Birmingham as her headquarters.

“I feel like there is so much misunderstood about epilepsy and seizures,” she said. “We say epilepsy doesn’t discriminate. It can happen to anyone, any age or demographic, so I do what I can to communicate accurate facts and statistics and encourage people who may feel alone on the journey.”

Franklin, along with Epilepsy Foundation volunteers and supporters worked with late Rep. David Wheeler (R-Vestavia) and Rep. Thomas Jackson (D-Thomasville) to get the Seizure Safe Schools Act to the floor of the State Legislature.

Along with Rep. Paul Lee (R-Dothan) and Rep. Arnold Mooney (R-Shelby County), the bipartisan bill was passed in 2021 and signed by Gov. Kay Ivey. It is being implemented in schools this year.

“We are currently working on an anti-stigma campaign to raise awareness about how common epilepsy and seizures are, and we have a public health team working the past couple of years with the Center for Disease Control to create a program similar to CPR certification, but for Seizure First Aid certification,” Franklin said.

It consists of a free test, a course, and a post-test and teaches people how to keep a person safe and comfortable until an EMT or medical professional arrives. Certification is valid for two years and can be done online.

Moving forward, Franklin said her goal is to reach the more than 54,000 people living with epilepsy in Alabama and expand that strategy to reach the most people with the information, whether that is funding from the Alabama Department of Mental Health, or partnering with the Alabama Department of Education, the Alabama Department of Public Health, or United Way offices across Alabama.

“By many different groups working in collaboration with each other on the state and federal level, that is where the difference can really be made,” Franklin said. “It is certainly not an easy process, but I am proud to have worked alongside Children’s of Alabama and UAB, both who have advocated across the state for us.

Fear is a liar, she warns.

“I believe the visibility of the foundation has gotten better in the past few years and we think it will change the trajectory for epilepsy awareness in Alabama,” she said. “My secret to success is to wake up each morning knowing I only have one life and it will soon pass, so keep in mind what matters long term and what matters eternally, because the last stand has to be to encourage people.”