A Keighley man and his family have raised over £1,000 for Leeds-based national charity Epilepsy Action, in memory of their son.
Joseph Mancakas organised the fourth annual Memorial Golf Day on Saturday 21 July at Riddlesden Golf Club in memory of his son René. René had epilepsy and died in 2008, aged 36, after an epileptic seizure. Along with his father Joseph, René was a keen golfer. Since the event began, the Mancakas family has raised over £4,000 for Epilepsy Action.
Sponsorship for the event came from Charles and Angela Wysocki, who own Keighley-based water treatment products company Calmag.
Joseph and Lida Mancakas, René’s parents, said: “We’ve had another successful golf day in memory of René, which is fantastic. We’re very grateful to everyone who supported the event. We’d particularly like to thank everyone at Calmag for sponsoring the event and helping to make it possible. We feel the money raised to help support people with epilepsy is a fitting tribute to René.”
Michael White, fundraising events officer at Epilepsy Action, went along to the golf club to collect a cheque on the charity’s behalf. Michael said: “We’re very grateful to the Mancakas family for continuing to fundraise for Epilepsy Action. The money that has been raised over the past four years will make a huge difference to the lives of people affected by epilepsy. We’d like to say a big thank you to everyone involved in making the golf day such a success.”
Epilepsy affects one in every 103 people in the UK alone and 87 people are diagnosed with the condition every day. Last year Epilepsy Action directly helped 1.1 million people through its range of services.
For more information about epilepsy or taking part in fundraising events for Epilepsy Action, visit www.epilepsy.org.uk