RAISING over $1,000 and counting, Thomas Englefield’s ‘Mindvision’ art exhibition on Monday 11 April, continues to inspire donations to the Epilepsy Foundation.

Seeking to spread the up-side of life with epilepsy – life threatening in Tom’s case – the Englefield family exhibited Tom’s unique artwork with the community to share with others how they support their epileptic son.

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Tom, now aged 33, sustained a traumatic head injury at the age of eighteen, from which he battled back to an active life, emerging with a completely different personality, and epilepsy.

“Thank you to all those who donated so generously to the Epilepsy Foundation,” Karen Englefield told News Of The Area.

“So far through everyone’s generosity we have raised $700 in cash and a further $385 through online donations, which are still coming in.

“We were overwhelmed by the generosity, kindness and genuine interest that was apparent on the night of the exhibition and ongoing since the night.

“It was so thrilling for Tom to have so many there offering their encouragement and support.”

The exhibition was held at Twenty46 café on Harbour Drive, Coffs Harbour, where Tom and his support worker James have their coffees pretty much every day.

To further spread Tom’s art, Karen has had mugs made up in nine different designs featuring different artworks of Tom’s and a quote by iconic artists on each one, such as “The world today doesn’t make sense, so why should I paint pictures that do?”, by Pablo Picasso.

“We also had some lovely coaster sets with his original artwork on them.

“Tom is very excited at the thought of people drinking tea out of mugs with his paintings on them,” said Karen.

In Australia around 250,000 people are currently diagnosed with epilepsy – that’s over one percent of the population.

Epilepsy is more common than Parkinson’s, cerebral palsy, MS and muscular dystrophy combined, but is still widely misunderstood.

The Epilepsy Foundation provides information, education, research and support to schools, workplaces, families and individuals who live with or are impacted by epilepsy.

Acutely aware of pursuing an active life with a life threatening condition, Karen shares Tom’s achievements to help inspire others in the caring and support role, that there are still happy and creative possibilities to be experienced.

“Life is not over,” she says.

“At the exhibition we saw Tom very excited…he was so in his element.

“He was relaxed and sociable, lapping up the attention, answering lots of questions.

“Usually with that volume of people and noise he would become quite withdrawn, but he was totally on par.

“We’d like to thank Mel and her staff at Twenty46 for a wonderful evening and for always welcoming Tom into their world,” said Karen.

If you are interested in helping Tom Englefield and his family raise money for epilepsy research, you can donate until the end of May at https://shoutforgood.com/fundraisers/MindVision2022.

To purchase Tom’s artwork mugs and coasters email Karen at mindvision@yahoo.com.

By Andrea FERRARI